The Jonesboro mayor is hoping to find more internet service providers for the city as complaints about Suddenlink (by Altice) continue to be made.
Mayor Harold Copenhaver announced that he is now asking interested parties to officially submit qualifications and visions to join the City in an Internet Service Provider partnership that can provide high-speed broadband for every household and business in Jonesboro.
“One of my primary goals when taking the reins as mayor has been to make high-speed fiber accessible to every home in Jonesboro,” Copenhaver said. “Today we are taking a big step toward providing good options for TV streaming and internet service a reality.”
Copenhaver said the bid process will provide an accurate forecast of costs and viable providers, and that public-private partnerships are critical because of the expense.
“We know this will be an expensive investment,” he said. “Having conversations with the governor’s office and the State Broadband Committee, we know community partners are key to success.”
Copenhaver said too many Jonesboro neighborhoods lack viable alternatives to Suddenlink, a subsidiary of AlticeUSA whose service is a common and leading complaint to the mayor’s office. It is also the subject of individual and class action lawsuits around the country, and many Jonesboro neighborhoods have no choice for cable TV or internet service.
“We have worked in good faith with Suddenlink since I came into office last year to try to improve their service in Jonesboro, and too many of their residential customers are not receiving fair access to thrive in 2022,” Copenhaver said. “It’s about quality of place, but internet service is a fundamental necessity in this day and time.
“We want to partner with a company that will make Jonesboro a leader – not just competitive – on the highway of the future. Affordable high-speed internet in 2022 is as vital as well-paved streets. Without it, we will fall behind as a community.”
Telecom companies are currently burying broadband lines along some streets in the city, which will lead to upgrades for residential customers. Copenhaver likes that progress, but he wants it in all neighborhoods, and he wants a competitive market to maintain affordable prices for these services.
“Having options for service is key to a better product,” he said. “But education demands are becoming more data-dependent every day, and better broadband can solve the No. 1 impediment to health-care in Northeast Arkansas, which every hospital tells us is access.”
Way past time to do something definitive to destroy/eliminate Suddenlink, the worst criminal concern in Jonesboro, a city dominated by criminal businesses. No reason to believe the new mayor is any improvement over the last liberal democrat but trying to keep an open mind. Time will tell.
Suddenlink by all it’s names is a criminal organization, lies, cheats, steals, price gouges, service sucks, doesn’t work half the time (TV, internet or phone) and should be thrown into the abyss. The last demonic mayor of Jtown couldn’t or wouldn’t deal with it, referred people to the useless Arkansas Attorney General, and it has just continued to get worse. Pitchfork and torches time for them and this administration too if they don’t fix this.
Suddenlink is the WORST!