US Senator John Boozman

WASHINGTON–U.S. Senator John Boozman (R-AR) applauded the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) $7.1 million broadband investment in rural Arkansas. The grant will support two high-speed broadband infrastructure projects to improve rural broadband for 1,250 homes in Baxter, Marion and Stone counties.

“Improving broadband in rural Arkansas is critical to helping families, businesses and communities stay connected in today’s world. As a rural state, there are more challenges to providing Arkansans access to the minimum speed of wired broadband that experts agree is functional: 25 megabits per second. The ReConnect Program is an important tool that allows USDA to close the digital divide and improve broadband access in rural America,” Boozman said.

USDA announced it awarded grant funds to the Yelcot Telephone Company and the Mountain View Telephone Company.

Last year, Boozman expressed his support for USDA’s Reconnect Program in a Senate Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee hearing with USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue. Boozman, a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, helped secure funding for the ReConnect program. He is a co-chair of the Senate Broadband Caucus, a bipartisan group aimed at closing the digital divide. 

Learn more about USDA’s ReConnect program.