Arkansas Blog

To those laidoff, they are both "substantial" AND "significant"

Thank you Governor Beebe!!!!!!

Verizon could fire the whole campus and say "it's not substantial". This smells of PR cover up of a large layoff, as they don't want to offend the already not-happy customer base they've created (Hey, let's screw everyone's coverage up! We don't care about Arkansas, since we're from New York/New Jersey and we're better than the South!)

It is unfortunate that Governor Beebe did not press Verizon on their plans for 700MHz wireless Internet service in Arkansas. He had a great opportunity to secure a commitment from them, and create new job opportunities. Instead, he did nothing, and here we are.

And just what the hell does 700MHz wireless whatever have to do with the Gillette Coon Supper?

70%er - Verizon has the only national license for wireless broadband in the 700 MHz band, which they purchased in the big auction for spectrum formerly used for analog television broadcasts. If Governor Beebe had used his good offices to encourage Verizon to deploy the wireless broadband service in rural Arkansas, a perfectly reasonable request while he was meeting with Verizon's execs, that deployment would have provided a lot of jobs, and provided service to large areas of the state without wireline broadband access.

AT&T did not bid for any 700 MHz licenses in Arkansas, so they won't be offering the service here. Cox Cable won the license for northwest Arkansas, but I'm not aware of their plans to use it yet.

The sad thing is that Win Paul Rockefeller had a much better understanding of our state's broadband shortage than Beebe does. Jim Guy Tucker understands it too. Governor Beebe and his staff just don't get it.