by Roby Brock (roby@talkbusiness.net)
Alan Morse, CEO of Jonesboro-based Ritter Communications, a regional telecom and broadband provider, said Arkansas is well ahead of surrounding states when it comes to investing in high-speed Internet fiber expansion.
Ritter has operations in over 100 communities across a four-state footprint, including Arkansas, Missouri, Tennessee and Texas. Morse said The Natural State has been smart in investing federal money into broadband deployment across rural Arkansas since the COVID-19 pandemic first brought a tranche of funding to the state.
“I give kudos to Governor Hutchinson and his team, and also the Arkansas legislature for the speed with which they jumped on the availability of those funds and got them deployed. Arkansas was really one of the first states in the country to make use of the CARES Act funds that came out in 2020, and then subsequently the funds that came out in 2021.
