Arkansas battles over municipal broadband

Will Arkansas become the first state to rescind its ban on local-government ownership of internet service providers? With the issue before the state Legislature, citizen input could have an impact on the decision. The real legislation, SB 150, unanimously passed out state Senate committee on February 7. But then the full state Senate hijacked the bill and put compromising restrictions in the wording. Now it’s up to the state assembly to restore the wording back to its original intent.Arkansas is one of 21 states whose legislatures have regulated in varying degrees municipalities’ rights to own networks and sell broadband services. Until now, none of these laws have been rescinded. The Tennessee prohibition on community broadband came close to being overturned in 2017.In real terms, the effect of the ban on municipal networks is that about 40% of Arkansans don’t have access to broadband as defined by the FCC.