12 years since Oklahoma family last had internet, Broadband Office celebrates milestone for expansion

Dirt is turning over for tens of thousands of rural Oklahomans, thanks to Oklahoma broadband expansion grants reaching further phases. 

In some cases, there was no service available before the rollout of the program. For others, whatever was available was virtually too slow to be of any use. 

The state’s Broadband Office made its first round of awards in 2024, after first opening doors in 2022. While some projects and construction areas have reached completion, the remainder of the first cohort of grant recipients are expected to be completed by the end of 2026. 

And, the state is also fast approaching disbursements from its BEAD program, which will be its largest round of funding to date. 

Getting started 

The COVID-19 pandemic catalyzed Oklahoma’s interest in broadband. However, the contemporary framework for how the state advances its broadband policy was first broached during the 2020 legislative session. 

HB 4018 created the Rural Broadband Expansion Council and set a rough outline for how Oklahoma could leverage incentives for broadband expansion and map progress. 

Two years later, state lawmakers advanced it further with HB 3363. It created the Oklahoma Broadband Office, and its governing board, with a sunset date of June 30, 2028, for closing itself after reaching broadband access for 95% of Oklahomans. 

Notably, the office’s leadership says it plans to hit the 95% threshold by the end of 2026 and reach 100% by 2028. 

Perspective from a service provider 

The East Central Electric Cooperative, and its subsidiary ecoLINK, is one of 31 service providers which received a share of $374 million in ARPA funding as part of Oklahoma’s first round of broadband expansion grants in January of 2024. 

“In the rural area, there was no providers there,” said Jeremy Hendrickson, vice president of broadband for East Central Electric. “We were very pleased to be doing what we did 80 years ago — bringing electricity — but now, we’re coming full circle and bringing fiber.” 

According to Oklahoma’s broadband dashboard, East Central Electric and ecoLINK received nearly $8.5 million in ARPA funding, which the cooperative matched with roughly $7.6 million in other funds to develop 159 miles of fiber across 1,750 locations in Eastern Oklahoma. 

Before the Oklahoma Broadband Office started running point on federal dollars passing through Oklahoma, the cooperative also received $22 million from the Connect America Fund and $8.5 million from the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund. 

Each day, more homes get connected through its fiber projects. 

“It’s probably six months before service is available, when you first see that first truck in your neighborhood,” Hendrickson said. 

A completely new experience 

Broadband may popularly be a favorite for Oklahomans wanting to stream their favorite content or play video games. 

But its core purpose has been rooted in improving education and the workforce, health care, and keeping families connected. 

For Monica Granstaff of Okemah, it’s been 12 years since she last had access to the internet. 

“Sometimes, if we want to have a crazy Friday night, we might hook the hotspot up to the TV,” she said. “But otherwise, we have antenna and we get about 12 channels. So, this is going to be pretty big.” 

On Wednesday, drop crews were connecting the fiber line to Granstaff’s house after already finishing an install at her brother’s house across the road. 

“This is a great thing for not only us to be able to get on the internet and watch our shows, but for our kids,” she said. “Because there are a lot of educational things out there that they’re able to get on and watch. For that, I’m grateful for the fact that our state and federal governments are working together to help our community. Because that’s what matters at the end: our community.” 

Likewise, Michelle and Dennis Smith of Schulter have been living in a new light since getting fiber in January of this year. 

Life before broadband expansion wasn’t great. 

“The service options were terrible,” Michelle said. “Everything just buffered. You couldn’t stream anything, couldn’t work from home. They had to get me a hotspot.” 

Michelle, who is a corporate clinical nurse, works from home full-time. Her husband, Dennis, works from home part-time. 

The upgrade has made a big difference in their professional lives. 

“As far as being on Zoom, I can now do the video portion,” Dennis said. “Not just the voiceover.” 

The couple have been eyeballing the ecoLINK service for nearly 4 years and hopped on the waiting list as soon as they could. 

Now, they say the improved service creates a chance to stay in better touch with their adult children and their own families. 

Looking ahead 

While slightly more than 9% of active projects listed in the state’s broadband dashboard have finished the buildout phase, the Broadband Office is getting closer to advancing its next stage of funding. 

Oklahoma’s share of the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment Program will be its largest round of funding. The initiative was rolled out during the Biden administration, which was authorized by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law that was passed in 2021. 

The federal government allocated Oklahoma $797,435,691.25 from the BEAD program. 

In its 2024 annual report, the Oklahoma Broadband Office proudly referenced how the program will bridge broadband access for the “last remaining unserved and underserved homes and businesses” in the state. 

Specifically, it also stated that fiber-optic technology would be prioritized. 

But some critics drew quick attention to the recently issued final proposal on how Oklahoma plans to use its BEAD funding. 

The proposal revealed that the Broadband Office would be punting $225 million of its allocation back to the federal government, which the office referred to as “significant cost savings” that were realized after collaborating with the National Telecommunications and Information Administration. 

In June, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick announced new changes to the BEAD program. Among the changes, states could no longer favor particular technologies. 

Oklahoma’s preferred choice of fiber had to be re-evaluated under a cost-cutting lens, which “will bring the full force of the competitive marketplace to bear and allow American taxpayers to obtain the greatest return on their investment,” according to a news release from Lutnick. 

“When the rules were changed by the Trump administration on June 6th, we're still going to be able to meet those unserved and underserved Oklahomans,” said Mike Sanders, executive director of the Oklahoma Broadband Office. “But what's interesting is all of those will be net neutrality, meaning that all the technology, it will be neutral. Everyone gets a fair shake at it.” 

Under the current proposal, 65% of BEAD projects would still be fiber-based. 

“I think that number will go north,” Sanders said. “So that’s still good news. But, at the end of the day, there are some places in our state that it just makes sense to do a fixed wireless solution or even a satellite solution. But we’re proud of the work and proud of the legacy that we’re all going to leave behind.” 

Despite the ongoing process to finalize and disburse BEAD money, Sanders, who has been on the job as executive director for two and a half years, said this week was a monumental step for him to witness a fiber installation. 

“This is what we do,” he said. “This is why we do what we do; because this is going to change the lives of Oklahomans. This has been long overdue, and we're excited that we're part of it today.”