Advanced Communications and Information Technology - Joint

Is there a motion to approve the minutes of the august first twenty twenty three meeting motion by center english second business hill in question's discussion if not on favorite say I pose ocean past thank you for coming today. Apologize for any the timing issues but fiscal session requires us to do the constitution of duties first and then the committee things come along later but we cleared out our calendar and passed appropriation bills a few minutes ago school we can now go back to our committee work I would like to invite a the folks from t mobile mrperiod patrick few second mister kinbergham is angela porter williams or any other t mobile people that and test five police come forward. Yeah. And let me say for it for benefit of public. We appreciate all of our saler and broadband providers and thank you all the mobiles a little little newer and architects far as their footprint there they've expanded some so we were to give them an app to talk about that and I as I said to when my colleagues had asked me this morning I said well anytime anybody wants to expand service to our people in the state we'll be more than have happy to have come in and tell us so we can pass that on to to our constituents so if you all would like to if you don't have to work the microphone so they will please introduce yourselves for the record yes sir thank you very much chairman johnson good afternoon chairman johnson chairman meeks thank you for the opportunity to be here in members of the committee my name is patrick fusic I am the director of government affairs for t mobile I cover arkansas and either states from minnesota down to mississippi so away this is my first opportunity to present to you i'm just fairly new to our consultant really appreciate the the opportunity to be here before you are this is this is opportunity for us to share a little bit about what's going on with our investment in the state of arkansas from our network investment to other retail investment store openings as well as I will be called home towing grants you can hear a little bit more about all those as we go through I didn't want to take one personal privilege if you might to introduce brent stevenson if you don't know brand I hope you do but I just wonder the publicly acknowledged brent for the help he's done to help t mobile mr simply stand out after we can see there you are thank you I can kid we've only known each other about forty years yes yes that's off that's great well thanks to brent for helping us work with you all think you get for the opportunity to have the joint committee I know that's a very unique for us and we really appreciate that and we have a reception later on this tonight which I think you've all have been invited to hope to see you there as well. So i'm in a I just kick it off by introducing both and your low williams porter portahoined i'm sorry she heads up by retail side director retail and then can bush shoes are senior director of network engineering team so they're going to do the main part of the testimony and i'll turn it over to them and we'll go from there thank you they. Thanks and i'm cambersenior director of engineering for t mobile we're here today to just. Let you all know what we've been doing are up to in the state of arkansas as far as our thank you as far as our invest could you move the market little closer I can hear you but remember this is being a large dream and so we want everybody out in the world okay that has broadband connection absolutely thank you sir so yeah we're here today at a distance inform you about what we've been up to and in the state of arkansas so first lied you can see just some highlights here we've got five hundred and thirty nine sides that cover the state right now. And out of those uhm we've got five hundred and forty two that are capable of our five g network which will talk a little bit more about as we get into the presentation currently we have about a projects and upgrades planned for this year. And we've been on that clip for a couple of years now as you'll see. So a few things that were all proud of them since twenty twenty one t mobile is supported what we call the hometown grants. If your unfamiliar with that it's it's really designed to jump start bottle community projects and plans we've invested twenty five million. Over a five year period end of this hometown grant program and really want to what it does it brings the opportunity for communities that are that have less than fifty thousand people. An opportunity to apply for a grant and then get help with any of their generalization projects or you know really whatever they they need to accomplish when they in their community and we have a few of those that we've done in the state of arkansas which and he's going to talk a little bit more in detail but you can see the four cities that are that has benefited from the hometown grants. Another initiative that we were real proud of his car project ten million I think many of you know. I know about the project ten million but in the state. This this is a ten point seven billion dollars initiative aimed at bring internet solutions and connect connectivity to millions of underserved. N this program a goal is to make available free internet access and hardware to ten million households over the next five years. And that I know the state of arkansas definitely benefited quite a bit from this one. This this particular initiative is we're proud to say is helping us close that digital divide for those communities that are that are underserved state of arkansas had sixteen thousand students from over sixty school districts that they took partners program. One of the other programs that we have is connecting her own it's a ten year seven billion dollar commitment from t mobile. And it just it brings a five g access for first responders agencies giving them access to the t mobile network and and for both voice and data around excellent. So what you see here is canada it's it out it outlines the network investment over the last three years from twenty one. Twenty two and twenty three. And the investment really for us is about taking the existing sites we have upgrading them to five g whether it be extended range or ultra capacity we're going to talk a little bit about ultra capacity and what it brings and then that customer network experience so it's deepening them that five g network in the cities and bringing more reliability to the customers. And then one of the big focus areas we have you all know you do with understorms here quite a bit so you we need a service to be up and operational right so we've been invested quite a bit as you can see here in network resultancy just back at power are ensuring that these these sites are up when you need him. The. Currently we have fifty percent of our sides across the state have back at generator power every site has batteries to to help us with that network resource and then you see the total three year spend over hundred and sixty three million. And then we've got current plans for twenty four and twenty five to twenty six where the similar span so we're we're right at that hundred and fifty projects a year. And about forty five estimating about forty five million a year. Alright never evolution in arkansas what you see here the two maps you see the five g end of your coverage in twenty one. And then the map on the right shows the five g current coverage. And really the difference between the two is you can see the darker colors get a little more dance and a little more prominent on the connectors and highways so that's a springing that five g. Experience to those communities and highways and connectors. The counts on the right you can see just. The improvements that we made in both lte and five g networks roughly that fifteen to twelve percent a year year over year. All right let's go to the next one this map these maps are really like this this illustrates. From twenty one twenty three and the current coverage so what is what this maps showing you is again the five g coverage in twenty one and then you can see what I really want to point out as a darker you know the darkest color you see on the map and how dense that it gets as you as we progress into twenty four. That's our ultra capacity network what it does it has the bandwidth and capability to bring all of the feature and functionality that you come accustom to on your five g devices as well as bringing our home internet service into those areas. So you can see that were were hard trying to you know cover cover this entire state. So this this illustrates a hundred and seventy new sites and over four hundred and fifty upgrades that we've completed over the last three years. Umm the five gm infrastructure in twenty four of the the on the for out you're looking at it's covering ninety seven percent of the interstate eyeways and state routes. All right let's talk about third party experts are saying what the third party experts independent experts are saying about t mobile. This is ookla ookla speed test though they go out and and analyze all of our networks and then give us the feedback and rankings of how we're performing what you can see in the state of arkansas the median download median upload and then median multi server latency those numbers are represented the median of all all of the carriers. And then you can see to the ride and magenta what team what was download speeds are according to ookla for the state of arkansas. The next one few slides will get into what open signal open signals and other third party bender that does independent expert analysis. And then you can see how we're performing across the state on download speeds. The. The next the next page shows the upload speed comparison. Across the three the three major providers. Alright and then the next one is five g availability in arkansas so it's important that you know if you have a five g device of the network is there available for you to to access and and utilize it so you can see that t mobile again as the winner in this category. Alright i'm on a hand after andy. Good afternoon everyone and thanks for having us ing porter williams I am the director of stores and one of my territories is right here and in arkansas more specifically a little rock and when I talk to you a little bit about our distribution I strategy and some of our employee account for now you can see here a twenty plus that is absent of some about a dealer channels are which is our authorized retailers in our metro by t mobile are all stabbed by their own employees so there is no co employment with our authorized retail retailers that's why you see a hundred and twenty those are just from our corporate stores. Now you may be wondering we use a latter accountants here at a t mobile so you may be wondering what is smra so s m r ready is small town rural markets at this format has allowed us to reduce a to add t mobile's front print gaps and serve communities and a whole new way some of these communities were only once occupied by our competitors. And with advancements like five g we can now offer something better to the community home internet is one of those ways to help communities and also reduce our digital at divide from a growth aspect we have grown to ten additional stores in the smra format a tap one hundred which is the format that I oversee those are the the larger populated cities and a towns and states we increase that by four and that is through our store within a store and you may know it as costco in sams so we are currently in in costco where in about half of their a footprint we were able to at take a large portion of costco i'm almost have from verizon and then most recently in january we were able to secure the whole sams club so we have over five hundred and eighty stores in sams club which is only occupied by t mobile with our own employees so no third party employees we staff them with our own employees. I'm so that has been our growth in twenty twenty three and twenty twenty four in in more to come so total for print is about seventy six stores that we have in a state of arkansas. So you heard can talk about home town grants earlier and how much time I will have given back to the companies to the country and to are what you don't know is how much we've given to the state of arkansas and I want to share with you some of the ways that we have given back to camden or it's also your old sielan clarks bill and russell so in russellville as specifically we were able to donate a fifty thousand dollars to a redo the american legis building which as you guys are me no was add complete in the nineteen thirty eight but since then the it's it's ages itself and we were able to I give a sizeable donation to get things I restored in and came then that we also gave a fifty thousand dollars deterred what used to be the town and library in to a green space for the community and a clarksville and we were able to do a public state enhancements there so and you know I mean street bingle halls so these are some of the ways that we have been able to give back to the community through our grants which is you know certainly fulfilling for us be these are their communities that we serve these are the customers that come through our doors every single day and offer us you know their money and in terms we want to make sure that we are being supported by the community that were just not another corporate organization that is is is sitting in a community without giving back with that i'm going to turn it back over to can and he's going to take us home on the auction spectrum. Alright thanks and so i'm gonna read a quote real quick for my president of technology off. Your last or see this and the press release of stated that as the leader in five g it's our responsibility to make sure everyone has access to fast reliable and affordable connectivity so one of the things you know I shared with you the network investment that we've put into the state where also you know very busy across the country but in particular in arkansas but it's just just to give you a few highlights as you're looking at this map i'll talk about it in just a second you know currently we cover t mobile covers three hundred thirty million people across. Across the state and two million over two million square miles. Are five g ultra capacity network that brings in all of those five g. Yeah. About enough five g activities your apps everything that you're come accustomed to and using your device plus the home internet solution that we that we provide. We're covering three hundred million. People and then that is two times more than a similar mid band offering. So what you're less looking this map with this map represents is t more was investment that they made in the fcc spectrum auction one away. And we went we went in pretty heavy to augment our existing mid band five g solution so we've actually put this spectrum in the use we did it very quickly once it was once it was provided to us that the map before auction you can see you know what what the spectrum holdings were the deeper the color the darker the color the more bandwidth that we have after the auction you can see that man we benefited quite a bit and our consumers therefore will benefit as we put this into our five g network the next the next and last page what it means to arkansas so. We you can see before what we were operating with the green the blue the orange those that spectrum holding would give you enough functionality to operate but not probably not the capacity that we would need as we start to load up the network over time the map on the right you can see that that we have put a lot of spectrum in the use and now we can go in and continue to enhance and deep in our network across the state for the arkansas communities. So with that that that concludes our presentation as far as informing you the hard work we've been at for the last three years t mobile always states that we won't stop and will continue you know like I said we're going to continue to be here to invest and we look forward to are being a great alternative solution for a lot of your consumers across the state thank you thank you thank you and i've had a have a little bit of a question. I remember when the analog tv part of the spectrum went away in my understanding was part of the reason this you could provide digital broadcast television with less man with in different area and that that freed up those frequencies for things like this spectrum auction and one at latest am I reading that correctly did I understand that correctly and let me introduce something matter expert this is ruspo to my left here senior manager of rf engineering yes good afternoon yeah they hope tell us about how this works where it normal people can understand the the auction one or each spectrum that we we receive a call that are mid band it's two point five ghz which allows us to have this larger bandwidth so when the fc sold this spectrum allocated you know part of it the blocks that they had. It was a robust size that we were able to do a lot with as you sign there on the maps you know where we started it was mainly in the metro larger metropolitan areas and what we did with this auction one o eight we were able to bring it out. More of widely it's more out into the rural areas in another locations that frankly really really need this and got a benefit from the most so yeah that they're there are certain things that happen that the fcc does the although they'll move some spectrum around the this spectrum is actually licensed for is the schools initially so universities in what night so we've been able to utilise it for the five g which is benefiting them in in all the other consumers as well okay thank you for that explanation coach makes do you have anything apple with throw out of the commission yeah I have a two questions again thank you all for for being here for your investments in arkansas when you were showing the ebay that ookla map of the slide is few months ago and noticed that arkansas was forty one. Yeah. No gotten forward a couple slides I think. Yes right yeah so are to sell rank forty once i'm assuming that means there's forty other states that are faster than us if i'm reading that correctly you don't how do we fix that with we keep we keep moving forward with our investment so what we do when we bring the ultra capacity here it's important for us to bring the infrastructure and not only the the frequencies that you saw that we're putting to work but also the transport that feeds the site so the connectivity to the site and were busy upgrading that as we speak to that's part of our upgrade project so when we increase that bandwidth for the backhaul and the rfside than that median speed is going to go through how some love to hear that the next question that I have and and the tour are related to each other is obviously their areas that are still lacking any kind of service is there a mechanism for members of the public to reach out and say hey there's a gap here if so how is that done how do you decide what areas to to go in and then um related to that satellite coverage is been talked about on the horizon can you kind of go into that a little bit force we can talk a little bit about that so let's cover the satellite one first because it's it's it's a quick conversation so we have partnered in a satellite satellite to phone service right now we tested text messaging only is is what we have actually put to test we're going to continue bringing that. You know in into use and into service and you can imagine what that's going to do I mean that's going to wherever your at and that satellite that lower the satellite you know can see you then we're going to you know be able to communicate with that device so that's coming it's on the just very beginning stages but we're we're invested in it and we'll move forward with that. Your the other question that you had yeah okay so let me start now let rust chime in here a little bit too so what we we do we take our existing network and we look we use network statistics and in a coverage plots where where are the people where the roads where do we need a coverage and service what what new building is coming in to these communities with love to take advantage of that and and you know bring that into are evaluation as well but we we look at all of this we leverage our stakeholders so you know and he has direct access to you know customers input and that feedback we also have one of our customer care. Jason say out everybody so could do it from jason he runs our call center so his team has direct access to those customers that invoice their you know complaints or or concerns or issues and then we take their feedback their feedback all of our network statistical feedback and then we put that into an algorithm saying hey these are these are the places that we need to go we put those sites resist team does the design work on the sites and then we put those into our priorities and future builds so right now we're we've already mapped out our twenty twenty five bill we've we are busy mapping out our twenty six bill and then we're going to be looking to see what our investment is beyond that. Alright thank you thank you I have a follow up on coacher makes a question on the are ranking. The forty first is a immediate aggregate of all the providers in the state appreciate himself when. Any carrier upgrades their system and and I mean you're doing it right now and you just your talks about that but the other carriers come here that number goes up that might not rank us higher than another state hopefully they're doing the same thing too but but this is this is a aggregate and so I mean absolutely thinking we're forty first to medium of seventy five I can remember when when I get dsl and it was like four down and we just started that was the best is greatest thing on earth and then we had a storm and it went away and then we were really upset so so i'm i'm I did want to clarify what that number met that median of everybody that's that's providing the wireless service across today yeah i'll just add to the that study was done prior to us releasing this latest spectrum so i'm excited to see what might worry about the end up and you know you're you're competitors and some of your day applaud them as well or everyone's doing their thing and like I said anything that that uh you know the the all saying about the sea rising it raises all boats we have a lot of folks as you know around the state that have less than optimum service above. I have a. Members of the committee bear with me and I have some real heart my story before my younger daughter that lives in colorado but she here works in a technology business use a software developer and as she's a defense contractor now and so I would cater that you know he tell me what you're doing but don't tell me if you have to kill me or something but the fact is that she said that I can work anywhere in the world don't have broadband connection she even went on vacation to japan and was able to work on what the high speed train crossed japan so that's an economic development thing for our state if you want to live in a place with its beautiful and housing is affordable and you have great schools and you have nature nearby and you can hot and fish and cap and boat and do everything architects the place to go but do people want to do that they got to have a broadband connection to them their work so so this is economic development not just for the existing things but for the individuals and small businesses that would like to be in a more rural setting but but need that connection to the world and. Mr I would like to go okay thank you because you're tear I would say i'm just to add on to the you know what everyone was for ubiquitous coverage in every state obviously it's hard to do I mean you've got geographic challenges in every state one of things as they want to point out is this investment that we've done is our own money this is not you know a federal government subsidies money now I know that's going to be coming down the road as we all know be in that dot those dollars starting to flow and I want to applied your director of broadband here glad how are you going to hear from the minute we put out had some conversations conversations with him and his team and we're looking for looking apply for a few states that we can um think that to be so opportunity to deploy and and I think again you may would point all carriers are in this together we want to connect everybody we obviously have our job to do because that's our business but I think that's going to help as well the availability those federal dollars that'll start to flow here in the next few years we will work with a lot of state agencies like like mister howies and will try to apply for that dollars and just point out that a lot of that'll be focused on fiber because it's obviously a different application of that technology to the consumer but I just make a plug for wireless we're not going to cover every part of arkansas that in this area you're not going to cover every part of our missouri with fiber it's just not visible it's not it's not possible so that's why it's really important that wireless and as we talk about our home internet product that we provide is going to be really really helpful to reach in those parts there of the estate that are going to be available it be touched by fiber in we've been in the home internet this is all for about nine over three years and we have over five million customers in the neat part that I love to share with policy makers is. Two thirds of those are in rural parts of the country or any state you and given state because that's where they didn't have options and and really choices per se so we think we're doing a great job it providing an additional choice for those customers in the rural areas in at a really reasonable rate and so just want to point out I think that that are what we're doing and then eventually you know we're getting into the beat money or help also I think a better footprint from everybody as far as connectivity that's nothing I would like to add on on your comments around you know working from anywhere we just this morning hit the wire there's two press releases that came from t mobile and when I talked about are investment in the are continued investment here in this date and across. Were were were bringing better internet solutions so one of the one of the solutions was home internet plus which is basically you know taking a mesh network across your entire house maybe it works in a corner it doesn't work in the basement or another corner this is a solution for that but the one that was exciting to me that tells me that we're we're getting where you want us to be is campers and our bears. So there was a mobile solution for campers in our beers to to take this t mobile home internet solution. And go wherever they're going to go right so we're stepping way after and saying that they were here to make this product to work and we're you know you can imagine some of these places are very challenging to cover mr interrupt you yes when you say that the harvey years campers and all that is that where their home service that they've subscribed to is also available when they're in their camper or is that a separate contract to separate product. It's a product may not be the right word but you understand my question yeah yeah it's going to be the same product so you can you pay one bill it's like you've got its it's error there at your home is wireless and I know what the measures that yep that's for your wifi in your house and but it's if I well theoretically II go to the light I go to groups very then it works there too because of when you subscribe to that do that solution I would imagine a fee for whatever that is you're going to take that device and in your camper as opposed to going in finding a separate other device to have to provide it in there yeah one of the things to know is that this is a plug in play a solution so we like plug in play yeah yeah when you're when you're in a one of my stores are you calling jason's call center to get this to buyers it's super easy to set up through the app there's no additional cables to set up is one correct and that's the court that you plug it into a standard outlet in in your home or your. And then the other thing that our want to say is that although this has been a pretty powerful solution for um some of our customers in a small town royal market this is also a big play for customers that have our competitors now from a price standpoint so we are now able to compete with some of the larger cable companies at a fartless cost we like competition that's what makes american work but glad to hear it and I rather couriers will have you to for your compete and we know who wins and that's the consumer when we have competition I always say if you want to know what what business is with that competition you can compare american cars to a trobant if you know what it provided is it was a car made out of paper machine for an east germany under communism so it's as this is why what we like competition are represented brown you have a question. I do chair. I'm looking at your colorful chart and I had presume that they grew in the expanded green is the territory that you cover now correct so this is not a coverage amount this is a spectrum allocation map so the the area and green is where that deepest most brad and robert spectrum is available for use. It's available not necessarily in use but it's available to t mobile death this is the this is the spectrum that we t mobile purchase through the the auction and and we have put it into our network so our what was it three hundred and the five hundred and forty two sites across arkansas we have put that spectrum into those sites so then the coverage maps that you saw. I think when yeah they're going to be this light is is actual service that spectrum site so that the one with the three. Umm but three maps yeah that one right there so the twenty twenty four that is an actual coverage map so you can see you know some areas where the. That where they're you know there's less less coverage. Follow up it's about the colors yet i'm trying to figure out what they mean okay so on the. Map a bargain saw on the lived there some white area so as soon as just like dead area that yes that was twenty twenty one coverage and then but then what that we've got we've got a gambler color and we've got a blue and we have after looks like most it's mississippi the light blue what it does different color signified that in the bays what is that mean so yeah if you're looking at the the far left one the uh the five g the magenta that you're seeing so that that's that's a base with our six hundred mhz that the green rust look up here or II agree the green again that's where we own that spectrum okay so that's the most reboat reburst part of the spectrum that we have okay and then but the amber what is separate that you don't all know what is why why is why your other part to this state different colors what is that signaf it's different amounts of spectrum for t mob for t mobile okay all right thank you thank you for other questions I did have one more and you're still okay I was sort of not paying close attention when you are talking about this so that's my fault but you were talking about fiber. And when i'm not sure if you're going to cover all of this area in fiber but when you can't do fiber then you would do satellite. Just kept trying to understand this so I was referring to the connectivity to the sites. So. That connectivity could be a fiber solution it could be a microwave air interface solution so between a t mobile site in a t mobile side not necessarily t mobile to my house correct that's right well and represent you'll think about it it's think of it in terms of electricity you have distribution lines in the new service lines they have to get their signal to the cell tower and that could come through firework come through satellite and then once it's there it's distributed over the spectrum through through the cell system as opposed to. Are you having a dish on top of your house or something like that but they have to get that signal. The letters say that the other phone line just a twisted fair phone and you've got to get it to the place where the self signal goes out and now course it's higher speeds and it'll probably be fiber if it if it goes out to them or or off from a satellite but it's it's like the accident like just like electrical council who will use have distribution lines and they have II get the concept okay thank you. Other questions. Okay well lady and gentleman thank you for coming we appreciate you and keep getting more architect consumers wired up and will get people talking people we like to have people communicate in and especially our rural areas appreciate you would you say about your grants these communities are you will teach you how to say i'll see how long if i'm gonna give them fifty thousand dollars will help you and I practice it just but a record idea you know the lights the cabinets they're they're grateful for any other questions okay thank you so much thank you mister thank you very much next we have a update on our our broadband deployment mister how if you'll come forward. And I will also bring it up in a moment. Well not wait you are come up mister armstrong and mr share field since we get three seats once you all come and won't have to drag it up later will do that. And black will get mr halley go ahead. And if you would yeah. That's fine we'll won't work it out and starting with you mister I feel introduced yourself for the record and then the other two gentlemen. Yeah I go in huawei state broadband director okay and do you want it let me let me let them introduce and then we're gonna let you go first but mister we push your bartender. They should chairman mister vice chairman i'm eddie armstrong for remember it's always in order to be back before you are today and I know over the last few days we've had engagement with many of you all i'm representing the winter broccoli foundation and our alice advocacy efforts which stands for asset limited income constrained employed individuals of arkansas something that i'm sure resignates with the ethernet remember here we have the singer director of policy and equity officer for the winter practice fellow foundation and allow for introduced himself mister mart of shroft. Thank you thank you mister chair and mart of draft policy doctor for the winter back though found it showing happy to be here thank you character how are you wondering you can go right here and update his time broadband all I appreciate they do the the chairman for the invitation and the be in front of the group today and some initial friends at the table which is always good to appreciate that I will try to get through it relatively quickly for you then obviously open for questions quickly and update on our team we have if you look at our roster we have eight including myself one of which is an americorps fellow on our teams who really we have seven employees with the state broadband office when I first started in august of twenty two I was kimberly and myself as to I would brought on lori a little bit later that year in their lane I know we we feel like we have a full robust team are really of seven but eight if you can't and it is a great job for us I do want to point out if you compare arkansas with states of similar kind of programs to date and that they the grants that we have awarded and the door amount smith and coupled with what we're going to project to do in the big program moving forward we are one of the smaller officers in the country relative to our peers and the state of wisconsin is very similar and work in scope in about twenty three employees on their staff alabama there's also another state this is very similar and scope and they have seventeen sale where we're a small team of seven were very proud of the fact we're small and mighty we get the work done I have less text for your dollar expense. As you all know the reason we're sitting here today it's a historic moment for the state i'll ask somewhere and ask for us commerce that we'd receive a little over a billion dollars in this next way of a broadband funding across the state with that we knew that are this year was going to be a year of action last year was a year of planning a fresh so we hit the road visited every county in the state of seventy five counties are nearly six thousand I was driven I know it says thirteen stops for coffee was easily triple that we did meet two courthouse dogs and ended up in one twenty dollar shelter in one of our visits to northwest arkansas so that was a lot of fun part of the homework that we gave are our county and local folks on our trips last year was to form county broadband committees and work in partnership with our office because of their outreach we've had cost of fifty of our counties are two thirds of our countings across the state form official broadband committees are to work with our team at a grassroots level and how to be your eyes in the ears on the ground we always told them they know themselves in their neighbors and their problems are much more than we would as sitting little rocks we look forward to working with them a little bit of an older map here are short and fulton or about to come on board a crawford historically has sorted so some additional counties were come on board and works out about that quickly the vision for the state that would eliminate that is provided by twenty thirty I end of the decade as a caveat to that we want the state funded grants on infrastructure to wrap by twenty twenty eight and the twenty thirty tag line deals with additional things beyond infrastructure so we think about digital skills work that needs to happen and devices the need to happen that's when we we sort of vision out the twenty thirty but from a state grant perspective i've told our providers this are to expect I want them done even in the spectrum of grants that we should issue later this year about them done by the end of twenty eight that's our goal very quickly and i'll keep ok moving through this everything that we do in the office now and as a state is related to our three pillars of broadband not only the xbs peace or the infrastructure piece but also the affordability piece I am. Now we call it opportunity last year if I would have given this presentation we would have seen that our third pillar was digital skills we have expanded that now to say opportunity so it's not just a scale issue but it's also a device issue in insuring that folks understand the opportunity that can arise out of having high speed connectivity in our new digital economy when we look at our three pillars state wide on the access piece there's about one point three six million locations in arkansas homes businesses through the anchor institutions of those and this is how we get to our number before the challenge process that's currently underway as for us a funding grants moving forward out of the one point three six million or so locations across the state about one point two four two million of those would not be eligible for the next round of grants and here's why one of two reasons one. An internet service provider today says that that particular location has access to high speed internet there's about eight hundred ninety two thousand so locations across the state in that bucket there's also three hundred and fifty thousand locations that have already been subject to a grant award to build out broadband for them. A hundred and thirty thousand of those through our office and you're approval another two hundred and twenty or so thousand locations that are subject to grant awards for broadband infrastructure. Through the federal government not through our office okay so is a little bit of a misconception sometimes when we have these presentations there are multitude of grants that are issued for broadband infrastructure deployment again going back to twenty twenty of the three hundred fifty thousand locations that have been awarded a grant about a hundred and thirty have come through our office the other two twenty three other federal programs okay on the affordability piece are our office would estimate there is about six hundred thousand households across arkansas that may would struggle to pay for a robust high speed internet package okay and lastly in the the opportunity bucket of things if we think about work force development and small business growth and quality of life. If you look at the traditional working age bracket of eighteen and sixty four our team with estimators about two hundred and seventy four thousand dollar candidates that lack and basic digital skills okay and so not coding or creating websites i'm saying take the mouse got a google apply for a job okay so in arkansas before we get to the stats free quickly. We have to attack all three builders at the same time and all these buckets and as well we're going to do moving forward okay. So in our program today we talked about the one thirty or hundred twenty nine thousand that we have awarded we have awarded since twenty twenty in the program on an eighty two projects totalling over five hundred million dollars to cover about a hundred and thirty thousand locations to day through the program. We have completed hundred and forty one projects for over three hundred million dollars today covering nearly a hundred thousand households today so we've had a hundred thousand households through the state's program and with your approval that have been connected to internet service. We saw about forty one projects in progress to date covering about another thirty thousand or so households and you'll see that the countries that have active projects at the moment or highlighted for you on the screen. Where does that leave us today. Right now as the challenge process for the new state map is ongoing which will look at in a second there were about a hundred and eighteen thousand locations across the state that either have no internet access at all or the internet access they do have as very poor and they have not been subject to a grant award to date okay added through our office or a different federal grant case one hundred and eighteen thousand locations left these are the locations that we have to go and award later this year with the billion dollars in the beat program okay how does that rank us with our peer states I like to and I would rankings alight in the forty first ranking from the most presentation of second ago when you compare the number of locations that we have to go get. In the beat program later this year compare it to our regional peers geographically. We have less locations because of the work the office is done and you have done since twenty twenty we have less locations today that we have to go in a water grant for later this year then do mississippi louisiana georgia alabama and missouri so we are in a better position today from a connectivity same point than a geographic peer so I just want to make that numbers we need to start telling the good story about what's happening in arkansas relative to connectivity. Most of you may know probably a couple of weeks ago really within a month an hour released a new state robin map of every location all one point three four million locations across arkansas by four the most detailed map to date a broadband connectivity across the state and what's good about this is every location in the state is going to have a color coordinated associated with it okay every home every business every community and constitution like a school or police station will be mapped it is mapped along with a color hypothetically the scenario let's say someone's out there in one of your districts and they have no internet access at all or what they do have is really. And they they go to a map they type in their address is going to zero in on their location. And they show up as a redder blue dive. That's good news that means that we're going to go award a grant later this year to build out internet infrastructure for those folks okay same situation some household in the district doesn't have internet access at all they do have is really poor they check their their site and they show up as green that's also good news because that means that there has already been a grant awarded for that location now. Our program in some of the federal programs they have different timelines and different rules so it may not have been dota yet okay but their location has been subject to a grant so that's also good news for them. And the gray dots would indicate on their internet service providers are already providing high speed internet for those folks see my own wrapped you for a moment yet german. I recently attended a meeting at all see you near my field asking county colleagues care were you at the thing with judge high last friday sooner english was definitely there and i'm i'm gonna call her to jump in the time you need to have we had a meeting with the pilaski county judge in some of his staff last was left priority wasn't it and there seemed to be a disconnect but caused this map that you're referring to now and again i'm i'm speaking colopially and i'm not even speaking with the whole lot of authority but my understanding what I heard was. That there was a disconnect between people that had that were reporting to the system that they didn't have they ran their speed tests and they didn't have adequate service which the. Site that you had to go report that was difficult to manage difficult maneuver. In senator correctly if I don't remember this correctly I believe they were only six people in pilaski county that. Hadn't been able to navigate the website and report their lack of educate service now anecdotally and paid his from talking it's a hard number than that but that if you don't want people to report bad news you just make it where the software doesn't work and you can't report it is that reflected in this are you aware of that prop problem and if you are then what steps here is your office taking maybe to address it because i'm i'm concerned some of the deadlines of reporting that have to go back to the fcc i'm afraid we there are off target owner with missed entirely he just speak about that from yeah absolutely insurance thank you for that you know when I would say there's there's never going to be. You know a one hundred percent correct. Of course in an in the matter she produce. You know we on thursday the first phase of the challenge process are concluded and I understand you know that that some people. Like most things any in this challenge process that were running right now. Any one thing that we cave out and say there's probably six exceptions to different things in different mechanics we had seventy six thousand locations challenged in this process at the close of friday which we were very proud of and very good. Um. And we tried to make it very simple for folks we had the vast majority of folks that would be impacted we had over seven thousand speed tests. They were run through the site and seventy six thousand locations a challenge I appreciate that that some folks you know perhaps how did more difficult than easier time navigating are the prices we tried to make it very simple we put out material all across the state talking about sort of a three step easy process one go to the state broadband map two into your address top right corner three what color was your dot and four if there is an issue to go to the speed test tool and we worked very hard for that I think that the tools that we are available today are much improved over any tools that we've had before and so although not perfect in its nature I think the fact that we had seventy six thousand locations challenged across the state with over seven thousand speed tests I would speak to the fact that the process worked. Well that's that's a lot at the high number but I don't know if it's a high number considering. How many people need speed internet and in underserved areas and i'm not. I mean yeah you say seven seven thousand seventy six a lot but you know in comparison to when you show all these dots and and again this is you know you can see the dots but you know they're kind of hard to see them or the red ones are and they're in there but I was looking at if you cannot follow along and i'm will call it the arguments all river valley like yelling pope county in some economy calling oh closer to my area there there seemed to be more of them and i'm i'm just there could you address yeah they did it or can you specifically dress that this short timeline we have between when the challenges can be made and also again correct me if I misunderstood this and and and against center english and I were at this me. Individual people can't challenge anything with the fcc directly this has to be something that's done through either your office with the counties or whatever and then they make theirs those challenges that I understand that correctly well so there there are different challenge processes for different things okay so there there is a a challenge process with the fcc that's ongoing that has to do if for instance if a location does not show up at all in the map okay that's in the fcc process that has to be done specific two locations that were on our map and folks that don't as though perhaps the the date was not representative of what they when they thought that is that is through us in your correct that everyday residents were not technically able to challenge in this process that was a federal requirement that we worked very hard to have a work round for so we created the suggest a correction mechanism where everyday folks despite the federal guidance really folks would log on tour system suggested correction that then went into a pool and sat with an eligible challenger such as a county judge or a mayor or a jp and support those folks that could be a challenger in the process of other states of piggy backed on what we did and implementing the same protocol in other states because arkansas live on that effort in I would say if someone you know in the speed test process anyone speed test doesn't really tell you anything and here's the example I took a speed test at my of my house a few weeks ago we have a tnt fiber I was in the dan next to the the. Next to the router seems speedtest came back rate right and julie my wife went down the hall same house fiber connection and ran a speed test from her office down the hall it came back as underserved. Right at the same location you know any one test itself isn't telling much we also have to take into consideration what people are subscribed to if someone is subscribed to a package that offers. Lower speeds the speed test will come back showing lower speeds I have someone out there today has really poor service the speedtest would reflect that we're gonna have a poor speed test show up and so there is a lot of nuance there is again six exceptions to every kind of protocol that we do have but I think on the whole II do believe firmware and I you know with this group and i'll tell this folks that we have calls with our providers every week and our other sick holes every other week I do believe the process worked as best it could with the restrictions that we have been given from the federal government that's part of this process too is that the one billion and be this different from slurf is different from cares and this particular program has alight the additional restrictions that were not present before and so we do have to kind of operate within the same box that we have understand that the exactly what you told me and also know that maybe some states. No offense to you your staff are because you had predecessors there maybe we didn't get out of the gate is fast as we should have and and I won't even like to look backwards will travel but I understand exactly what you say in the feds I want so they stack the deck against us but I think in some cases they could have made a little easier to get the information that they supposedly are seeking are last year weldridge. Thank you mister chair now only asking this because we're talking about the challenge process currently so can you explain to us like the isps so an isp can challenge an isp correct correct but only it only an isp that's identified on the map so how is a service area that's not identified on the map challenged. Could you explain that a little one more time some my understanding of the way the challenge works and I that there's half possibility that i'm incorrect on my understanding of it but here is my understanding from some of the providers in my area that an isp can challenge an isp but only another eyes p for an area that's identified on the map so I think we would all agree that they are areas that aren't identified on the map where there is a need how can someone challenge with your office to make sure that that need has been mattered that the map has been altered to reflect these areas so that they're considered yet so broadly speaking in the challenge process the reform can have main broad categories of wood could be challenged one was planned or existing service okay so if internet service provider since the last reporting that we had received from the sec as were that the base layer data that we received comes from there's a wagon time then so from the time that the data that we have some providers built out additional locations and there was a mechanism for that if it providers are in the process of building out currently and they would have locations built out by september twenty for this year there was a mechanism the challenge that and take that off the map there were you know if you look at the map and their locations are the remark is as is having band service but a provider had built out them they could do that I am honor in perhaps the translation I am unaware of a provider not being able to challenge. The. Frankly metal lost sort of understand because anything on the map right so I guess if there's a community that is showing I guess to be served but they were showing to be searched prior to the map being put out but that community doesn't feel like they're getting adequate service how would a how would a current isp challenge that community that you're saying doesn't need service or doesn't need to be built out for broadband service when in fact everyone that lives there everyone in that community would disagree with what the maps are sure yet that that was very much challengeable so any locations that were marked as gray on the map which is representative of an isp reporting that those particular locations were served or units of local government could challenge that or nonprofit organizations could challenge that and or interest service providers could also challenge that seemed information okay. So if if there is indeed a fat in area where there is not sent some caverage there you think there's a mechanism by which we can challenge that now follow up with you offline and connect you with my provider that's asking some questions but you think there is an opportunity to challenge that so so friday was the first phase of the challenge process when there's challenges came in technically so friday at midnight was the deadline on that but if we think there are some. Issues that need to be looked at we can we can talk about that I can look thanks sir thank you mister chair which thank you sir representative walker you recognize thank you mr chair thank you guys for the work you're doing I know this is a big deal for our state however looking at the map you've given us the in my from the way the dot look domain what i'm going off of that it looks like highest percentage of understarred by population is not in county but yet when you look at grants awarded and and the services that have been provided they're the only county in the entire state that has received nothing do you have a reason for that or know what the deal is there sure yeah appreciate that question one you were absolutely correct newton county as the worst connected county arkansas and it's not even close it's about ninety two percent of the locations and county or either unserved underserved that's why they're showing up as redder blue in this particular this version of what i'm showing now if you look at madison right next door virtually all green okay if you look at it newton all right and blue to the fact that you're talking about newton county from what I can has never received a state grant to date and there is a couple of portfole locations can along the border that have been subject to some federal awards but not very much I can't speak to why that has not occurred that to date I will say moving forward in the in the beat program later this year we have to go award. All hundred and eighteen thousand locations so wherever they are across the state we wanted to be a ninety percent or a higher bead fiber bill the cross arkansas but yes every reading blue location that you see in even county will be subject to a great award later this year we have no option we have to do it and we will do it it it looks like since that county's men excluded up to this point they've probably need to be proud you won moving forward because I mean I don't think as a study and I feel like we failed moved in county because nowhere in there have they been touched and I don't really know how the beach program will work but from my understanding that tell will address it go on forward so in my opinion newton county days to be. First first looked at before we worry about the rest of the state no one forward and I don't know if I can make this request by more I would like to to have something sent to me that shelves your plan for how we will address newton county over the next year so if that's possible. Yes a broadly speaking will provide in the information that that's requested obviously by the committee I am broadly speaking in in it in this federal program again. We are subject to the federal guidelines that are attached to the money in this particular program we have to go and award the whole state at one time so the entire state will be awarded in this particular grant round including newton county all grant if our could follow up and and thank you for bringing the representative walker thank you it was a little bit of a can look at the map it's like what did they do and newton carried by somebody made I mean what why are they why we think it own newton calian and certainly historically it's it's one of our poor counties it's probably one of our most beautiful carriers but it's mountainous and that may have something to do with the problem of reaching a as many people especially if you're looking at that broadband and all that but that we will if you would state specifics on that two staff representative walk we will get gets a managers for you and black and follow up with the a broadband office and we're not not just on this round of funding but maybe we can find some other answers that would alleviate that thank you for making that record. The. You are recognized thank you if I remember right earlier in your presentation you say at the dots also reflected the school districts from an old for a fact newton county has at least one school district I remember out they've got two school districts in about three or four buildings around the county. But yet all the dates that i'm looking at or underserved is that apply to their school district to or is the school district receiving adequate funding or not finding the adequate broadband yes if we if we drill down you're going to see more dots appear as you as you continue to drill down and draw down we can you know I don't this computer has is internet connected we can maybe do something in all time not sure from what I understand all the schools in arkansas that was in the prime administration are all the schools were were connected and I speak of this my understanding that that they are under um to the schools and encounter not have to be working up and if there is a situation where they are not adequately connected they would be part of the program later this year yes okay thank you thank you mister thank you. Last year makes me answer your question all the school districts in arkansas and connected for several years now so so your school district should be fine and i'm part of the new county issue is on these grants the counties in the local isps had to come to the broadband office they had to initiate that and it may just be nobody up there has has done that yet potentially surprised to prior to my leadership the office that the older versions of the program couple I guess I say older really to read years ago before that yes then isps had to I can't work through a mayor or a judge at the time and they would kind of you know select one that they like they were drawn to footprints in it to the st then you can't you know approve and we felt we had enough so I can't again can't really speak to the to the prior operation but but going forward newton county will be taken care of this year so it's all in the past we've required local action and so there may just not have been that action so I just want to want to know it's not your necessarily your fault but we are now switching years way more proactive approach so we will get them even if they've not applied in the past that the question that I had and I think you've kind of alluded to this are up until this time we are talking about served on served areas we rejected generally what the fcc maps looking at sensors blocks but it sounds like we're going way down even all the way down to the local level and were basically discarding this idea of sensors blocks now yet from a mapping perspective that's correct and we have we were we are reporting data now at the individual location of the smart debt clarity because that's a very important distinction absolutely the reason makes just a follow up very quickly and I do want to say that you're correct in the older versions of the program where the the mirrors and the judge is kind of had the work with the the isp and above if see in that's a thing it's critical about this that doesn't matter anymore okay so if there are some counties in the state that never answer my phone call do not open the door. No one even wants to you know see my face. We still have to go award all those locations in that county it doesn't matter we got to move forward anyway so just want to clarify that too thank you from being proactive so english. The. Yeah one of the things I guess we were start talking about new counting all their top little bill about the topography and some of the issues that we may face with friday at fiber into some of these areas yeah well that's one of the reasons that arkansas was one of only nineteen states to to be a billion dollar or more state in this program we were ninth in the country per capita in in our ward largely really too reasons one the density are like their of of of locations across the state in certain ports and or topography and so yes it is is more expensive to deliver broadband and are more mountainous or more granite parts of the state you know what again we wanted to be ninety percent or more of a farmer build what we can there are going to be challenges if you look at this could be several challenges this program that I can make it very child you know supply chain has firmed up somewhat but still issued exists work forces an issue that we're going to face we're still trying to mitigate against that in the inso but also the depography that we face in the lack of incident in certain areas and so we're gonna do a very best of their certain folks you know as a family who lives down the holler four miles and it would cost twenty million dollars to run on a farmer line okay they may get a starling system and in this program and that's okay because that's going to get high speed internet to that family but we're going to try to do a far rebuild as much as we can. Thank you senator. Oh you mentioned that the situation and i'll didn't want even repeat what you said about the one down in the hollow which up but it makes sense of. Is any of our. This. I want to say this right are any solutions to these situations a a satellite such as starling. Is that in the card so to speak as opposed to either either some other broadband option fiber or our saler or whatever they can show it is when you look at the program the grant program that that we have worked to design for a big program later this year again it's it's one sort of prolonged state wide grant round per se was sort of little mini rounds built into it as we go to to foster competition as much as possible and bring non prices for folks as much as possible really there are sort of four distinct little many fees in what will do later this year there is a we call of a trunch one that's what we're gonna get in all over applications from the market when a compare those and score those then we're going to go to sort of a tranche to or a second round where where there's overlap we're going to have more competition about competitors each other they make it better than we're gonna have a a sort of a little round three year tranche where when we end up after our first two little mini rounds and they're still locations around the state that have no application our team is going to get on the phone and we're going to call providers directly who's there whose local who's around them and see if we can make something work locally when we were on that process we get to a sort of our fourth little round at the end when we still have locations after after multiple rounds of doing this and we still have folks that have no application at all it's likely and that those folks will be other recipients of a starling system in the fact this i'm not I have one I know back what it costs a more reason it's about five hundred dollars for the equipment and about a hundred point dollars a month for a lot of people's off putting that's this would be pretty expensive. Do my wife it's different day and night I mean she's got a habit and so we just we back to building we do there and it's and so far it's it's best me very good but I can imagine someone that looks at there is a. Oh an impediment to them be able to go forward and it's and that's why we have subsidies cause not everybody can afford you know unlimited unlimited service with unlimited cost that hit you with the bill every month but i'm glad to know that least all options are on the table and sometimes you know it what might seem expensive is the most cost effective solution in a particular geographic location sure and then for those folks who would be subject to a strolling award of the state would be paying for. For the device the state would be picking the tab on that and you you would likely also expect the monthly fees to be reduced from what they are in the market and I presume and I again I not like I would complain if I would complain I guess but says we're getting his high as a hundred and fifty mbps down but if they said gosh you know is we get all these extra people or satellite so it's going dropped to eighty mbps or since when I dsl I had four and thought that was really good I guess I wouldn't really notice that but but the same token I know there are people out there that would pay a little less for for reduced speeds if that speed met their needs I guess that's as what we're talking about i'll get long as you guys are covered there i'm not going to take how to do your business action any other questions. Co chairman out of the road quick one out fc just recently redefined broadband that they up those numbers again trying to look for more symmetrical uploads and downloads is that changed anything as far as the way you're looking at this no we love they are behind the ball a little bit and so we'd hundred by twenties our standard currently that i'll ever see was not there so and I would say the fcc meant arkansas on that right there sounds good okay. Thank you thank you you're welcome said that we might have to call you back to his question but her you can go there and I will ask. Mr armstrong and mr sharp would like if they have a specific opening statement. Yes they recognize thank you I just want to start out by committee work that mister howard us that the broadband office it really having that option I know we had elected to a historical second challenge I isps and i'm not profits what it was nice to have that since then I just want to think your for let me be here mister chairman surprised me by chairman. And the members of the committee i'm just can be speaking briefly on the important serve broad man for alice families alice being acid limited in can constrain but employed to our family forty hours a week but so can't make ends me have having access to broadband how it's in a rule to their lives so I appreciate i'll be in here or having me here. So provides fifty years the winter product by foundation has honored legacy and the directive of governor of rock fellow by investing in an ideas organizations and help crafting public policy that increases economic opportunity and swings are communities today we're talking about broadband it's critical to both of these goals especially for our hours families to talk about this work from an economic and educational same point. This. Also came since our neighbors who are every day but still can't make sense me and that's approximately forty six percent of our state I gave you all hand handouts and if you'll flip them over they have they're broken down by each of your districts about how what percent of what percent of alice is in each of your districts. For alice family's broadband is a wifi that connects them to a central services like health care government services and employment arm opportunities particularly in rural areas where the resources are often sparse broadband can actually bridge to significant gaps and services and infrastructure. All our hands and high speed broadband at a formal price and the one billion dollars given to us semester harry reference can help close this gap. We all know that the covered bend I make underscored the importance of reliable internet access as cool transition from to online learning many students in arkansas socially those in rural and. Ours households face significant barriers due to inadequate or non existent services this digital ride had to get serious implications not just for educational opportunity before the economic future of our state. Children without reliable internet access risk falling behind their peers screening further gap that could take years to close. Broadband access is a powerful driver of economic development mr chair you mention the story about how economic development how it affects economic development apps that hip now right on head for families the ability of search for jobs participate in training program and work remotely is often contention about reliable internet service and rural communities broadband can facilitate entrepreneurship and ill farmers and small businesses to reach the market and attract new investments all which are crucial to economic revitalization. They went to broadcar foundation is deeply invested in these projects that help expand broadband access to understand areas. However the scale requires a collaborator of votes involving state resources community moment and of course our legislators backing we urge the uh arkansas house representatives as well as the senate to prioritise in support and issues that expand rather than it infrastructure ensuring that every your cancer regardless of their income or where the web has access to reliable affordable bright band services. Embracing our enhancing broadband access is not just about technology it's equipping every our cancer of the tools necessary to succeed in today's account. It's about ensuring that every arkansas can access called the education every session can engage with disor health care in every community can drive in the connected world we have a shared responsibility move the remove the barriers that prevent alice families in rural communities from achieving the full potential. I can keep a brief but I appreciate your attention to and I know that i'm speaking to the client a lot of these issues but i'm happy to answer any questions you may have and I urge you to work out that district level data that I send to please look over them down and hesitate to contact us if you want a further explore that data and how it affects not just broadband but other issues and and so that we can help reduce the number of house families in your community thank you. Thank you sir mister valley who did. No sir mr chair well thank you both for coming any questions for these gentlemen. Co chairman i'll throw one out out your one of the one of the challenges that we've been facing is as it looks like through the federal government with the beat program we're going to have the lot of the resources necessary to try to get this divide close but one of the challenges are of state still faces as the education peace and the adoption peace is your foundation during any work on that or any recommendations on how we attack that part of the yeah absolutely so we sit out of bunders round table called arkansas impact and we've made it one of our three pillars this supporting digital equity and brian access in the state of markets are so through bath you know we are formed by conditional equity at digital equity coalition to get folks more involved on the education a little pillar that mr how he spoke about it also like identifying you know how to promote the message that mr how is that you know I can be issues you know we need to get people to apply for the experience and and then do what they're going to do and I think the arguments I have like the length been get that done and then our last question I have in it and it could be for you that either one of you gentlemen I know with the with the newer generation that broadband adoption has been more through these then home internet and you know traditional pcs that kind of thing are we still seeing that trand and how does that play into. It's a good question i'm now the statistics of how do you know if adding yeah but you know your guesses you know I my guess that you're guessed you know I know that uh in ice working at school and you know I know everyone everyone my kids had a had a phone in their hand more so than they had a pc if I had the opposite of all right thank you gentlemen thank you for any other questions. He comments. Seeing that I guess we're done german thank you for coming thank all the witnesses and the people the public nothing else in we are adjourned.