Carr Visits the Ozarks, Including Events with Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson and Representatives French Hill, Billy Long, and Markwayne Mullin
Events Focus on Rural Connectivity, Agriculture, 5G Jobs, and Telehealth

LITTLE ROCK, ARKANSAS, September 7, 2021—This week, Commissioner Carr is visiting Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Missouri for events with Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson and Congressmen French Hill, Billy Long, and Markwayne Mullin.  The events will focus on federal and state partnerships, and the transformative impact that next-generation connectivity is having on rural areas, including on agriculture, education, telehealth, and the economy.

Today, Carr will join Governor Hutchinson at an event highlighting a series of rural broadband fiber expansion projects that include funding from federal programs and are administered by the Arkansas Rural Connect Broadband Program.  Carr will also visit a leading manufacturer of equipment for satellite, broadband, wireless, and telecommunications industries in the Little Rock area.

Tomorrow, Carr will join Congressman Hill and Governor Hutchinson at the Arkansas Farm Bureau’s Arkansas Connectivity Summit in Hot Springs to discuss plans to improve high-speed broadband in rural Arkansas and the importance of federal and state partnerships and coordination.

Thursday, Carr will kick off the day with nearly a dozen electric cooperatives providing high-speed Internet in Northwest Arkansas and Northeast Oklahoma.  He will then visit a Native American-owned telecom company in Oklahoma that manufactures and builds telecom infrastructure.  Carr will take a walking tour of Downtown Tulsa to visit recently deployed 5G small cells.  After that, Carr will join Congressman Mullin for a visit with an infrastructure company that is working on the newest digital broadcast television standard, ATSC 3.0.  Carr will then visit with a small, rural wireless Internet service provider in Eastern Kansas to discuss the importance of connectivity for education and the local economy.  Carr will close out the day by visiting a COVID-19 Telehealth Program recipient in Kansas that has utilized federal funding to greatly expand the use of telehealth services for its 60,000 patients in highly rural and low-income areas.

Friday, Carr will join Congressman Long to visit a family-owned business that supplies solutions for the tower climbing industry.  Carr will end his trip by meeting with students gaining the skills necessary to land a good paying job in the tower and telecom fields at State Technical College of Missouri—one of the community college programs that Carr has discussed as part of his 5G jobs initiative. 

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Office of Commissioner Brendan Carr
www.fcc.gov/about/leadership/brendan-carr
Media Contact:  Danielle Thumann
(202) 418-0376 or danielle.thumann@fcc.gov