I t was a grand occasion, held at the Pine Bluff Convention Center, complete with balloons and cupcakes (chocolate and vanilla), but the announcement was, in one sense, more of an FYI: Pine Bluff Cable has been investing in Pine Bluff for years and, oh, by the way, we are continuing to invest in your city.
The news came from Walter E. Hussman Jr., who owns WEHCO Media, which includes the cable company, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette and the Pine Bluff Commercial.
The newsier part of the announcement was, of course, the addition of a speedier internet. The average speed that a Pine Bluff resident has is in the 150 megabit range, which seems pretty snappy. But with no change in prices, our local cable company will have everyone up to 250 megabits by the end of next month.
Why? It’s just what needs to be done, Hussman said in announcing that Pine Bluff will be known as a “gig city.”
Said the cable company general manager, Jeremy Galloway, there is no plan to increase the price now — or at all.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
“We’re not looking at an increase down the road, either,” he said. “Internet is what’s driving the world, and that’s where we’re putting our focus and why we’re making this investment.”
The “gig-city” aspect has much bigger implications for Pine Bluff. While 250 megabits is far and away more speed than the average person needs, high-end business users have high-end needs. And to meet those demands, Pine Bluff Cable will, within about a year, make available to the city internet speeds of 1,000 megabits, which is a gigabit. Making that happen will require a $2.1 million investment into the Pine Bluff system, Hussman said.
“We think Pine Bluff has got a good future,” Hussman said. “To really accelerate that, we think Pine Bluff needs to be a gig city. They need to tell any economic prospects, ‘Yeah, we’ve got the 1 gigabit service.”
Mayor Shirley Washington said the new service would be critical to Pine Bluff’s advancement.
“Therefore, for Pine Bluff to continue growing, our broadband must be accessible, it must be affordable, and it must be efficient,” she said. “Investments like the one you’re making today are exactly why we need to make all of this a reality.”
A grandmother streaming a movie, a teenager playing an online game, a radiologist remotely reading a CAT scan, a big business transferring large amounts of data: they all need a quick, uninterrupted internet connection.
Yes, connectivity — fast connectivity — has simply become a basic necessity for living and working. Praise to Pine Bluff Cable and Hussman for making such a service part of the Pine Bluff experience. And add it to the ever-growing list of good things going on here in the Bluff.