Arkansas May See a Bigger Stimulus Allocation Because of Connect Arkansas

Monday, Feb 16, 2009

IT Firms See Hope in Stimulus
By Jamie Walden
arkansasbusiness.com

Buried in Congress' mammoth $789 billion economic stimulus package is one category of grants that could send a ripple through Arkansas' economy, starting with some homegrown technology firms.

Wireline telecommunications firm Windstream Corp. and wireless Internet provider Aristotle Inc., both of Little Rock, stand to received sizable grants that could significantly boost broadband connectivity in the state.

Arkansas may also stand to get a larger cut than other states because of some prescient work by Connect Arkansas.

Last week members of Congress hustled to reconcile the two versions of the stimulus package. Within the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act of 2009 exists the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program to propagate broadband Internet access in areas with insufficient or no Internet access. As of Thursday, House and Senate negotiators had reportedly settled on a grant pool of $7.2 billion. The broadband provisions started in the House of Representatives at about $6 billion, while the Senate began with a bid of $9 billion.

As to who will oversee and distribute the funds, Mike Rhoda, senior vice president of government affairs at Windstream, explained that the National Telecommunications & Information Administration is the most likely organization to run point on the broadband program.

However, the Rural Utilities Service, a division of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, may play a role since both bills specified that 50 percent of the budget must be used to support projects in rural communities.