As used in this part:

1. (1) “25/3” means minimum speed twenty-five megabits per second (25 Mbps) download/three megabits per second (3 Mbps) upload;
2. (2) “AEDC” means the Arkansas Economic Development Commission;
3. (3) “ARC” means Arkansas Rural Connect;
4. (4) “ASBO” means Arkansas Department of Commerce Broadband Office;
5. (5) “Available” means, in the case of broadband service, that a provider stands ready to provide broadband service to a location within thirty (30) days of a request for service being made;

6. (6) “Broadband” means an internet connection by fiber optic cable, coaxial copper wire, DSL, or fixed wireless with:

   1. (A) At least twenty-five megabits per second (25 Mbps) download/three megabits per second (3 Mbps) upload speeds;
   2. (B) Latency less than one hundred milliseconds (100 ms); and
   3. (C) No data usage caps or throttling below one hundred fifty gigabytes (150 GB) per month;

7. (7) “Community” means a:

   1. (A) Municipality;
   2. (B) Unincorporated community; or
   3. (C) County;
8. (8) “ESRI Shapefile” means a geospatial vector data format that can be utilized by ESRI or other GIS software;

9. (9)

   1. (A) “Interdependent projects” means projects which:

      1. (i) Are part of a set of projects involving the same ISP, each of which the ISP commits to implement only if all of the projects in the set get funded; and
      2. (ii) Will be assumed, for purposes of project selection, to be less desirable to implement if some of the projects in the set are not funded.
   2. (B) This may occur, for example, if deployment involves creating shared assets that need to recover costs from multiple projects to be economically justifiable.

   3. (C) The Arkansas Department of Commerce Broadband Office will:

      1. (i) Take note of the interdependent nature of the projects; and
      2. (ii) Avoid approving any interdependent project if the other projects in the interdependent set are not also funded;
10. (10) “ISP” means internet service provider, its successors, or assigns;
11. (11) “Location” means any structure that is legally fit for occupancy as a commercial or residential dwelling;
12. (12) “Mbps” means megabits per second;
13. (13) “Municipality” means a legally incorporated municipality under Arkansas law;
14. (14) “Project cost” is the entire capital cost of a broadband project;
15. (15) “Project footprint” is the geographic territory within which a project will provide broadband coverage;

16. (16)

    1. (A) “Project organizers” means public officials, ISPs, civic groups, or anyone else who takes a leading role in developing an Arkansas Rural Connect broadband project.
    2. (B) While projects may be catalyzed, initiated, organized, and developed, in principle, by anyone, the set of people who can actually submit applications for Arkansas Rural Connect grants is more limited, as explained in 15 CAR § 189-401 et seq.;
17. (17) “RFA” means request for applications;

18. (18) “State grant” is the amount of money that grant applicants:

    1. (A) Request from Arkansas Rural Connect in order to close the business case for a project; and
    2. (B) Will receive from the state if their project is approved and deployment proceeds as anticipated;

19. (19)

    1. (A) “Unincorporated community” means a population center with historic boundaries that are understood in local custom and amenable to mapping, but which is not legally incorporated as a municipality.
    2. (B) Census designated places recognized by the United States Bureau of the Census are automatically recognized as unincorporated communities, while other unincorporated communities’ status and boundaries must be established by maps and narratives, as explained in 15 CAR § 189-305(c)(2)(A); and
20. (20) “Unserved” means that a location lacks access to broadband service by fiber optic cable, coaxial copper wire, DSL, or fixed wireless at any price.

Codification Notes: "DSL" means digital subscriber lines. "ESRI" means Environmental Systems Research Institute, Inc. "GIS" means geographic information system.