LEGISLATIVE COMMITTEE ENDORSES SPEAKER’S CHALLENGE FOR STATEWIDE BROADBAND.

LITTLE ROCK, Arkansas (October 27, 2015) –

Arkansas House Speaker Jeremy Gillam and Senate President Pro-Tem Jonathan Dismang issued a challenge to the Joint Committee for Advanced Communication and Information Technology to begin an initiative to make certain every Arkansan has access to affordable high-speed broadband internet.

“It is time to step up our game,” said Speaker Gillam. “Every home, every business, every school must have appropriate access.”

On Wednesday, the committee voted to adopt the challenge and approved a working timeline in order to have policy recommendations by October 2016. The timeline has been posted on the House website at www.arkansashouse.org.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) reports that 59% of Arkansans do not have access to broadband. Broadband is defined by the FCC as 25 Mbps for downloads and 3 Mbps for uploads.