Heath Simpson on Expanding Broadband in Rural Arkansas

Simpson served in the United States Army Reserve for more than nine years. (Provided)

You have a background as a CFO. What’s the most common thing companies get wrong when it comes to accounting?

There is often a misunderstanding as to the differences between accounting and finance, which could lead a company to hire and staff inappropriately for its needs. Generally speaking, accounting is focused on financial reporting according to GAAP [generally accepted accounting principles] — in other words, reporting on what happened within a set of standards to ensure data integrity and comparability across company types. Conversely, finance is more focused on analysis, on “what’s happening and why” and “what happens if.”

Ritter has been expanding rapidly, most recently to Texarkana. How do you choose where to expand?

Our team has developed a very effective playbook for assessing markets for expansion, then for successfully launching our services in the markets we choose. We combine a data-driven approach with real-world experience. Our overall goal is to determine if we, as a team, believe we can be highly successful in the market. We start with success in mind, then work backward by going through quantitative and qualitative analyses. We evaluate the local competition, look at population and business growth, assess the geology of the area … and combine these and other factors in a complex spreadsheet that “scores” markets according to our criteria. But we don’t rely simply on the data. We also visit prospective markets, we drive around and talk with business owners and local leaders.

How is a regional provider like Ritter different from major telecoms like AT&T and Frontier?

We’re able to be very nimble. We don’t have layers of bureaucracy to work through, so good ideas percolate up quickly and can be implemented faster than at the larger providers. … Additionally, we’re able to directly and quickly see the impact our decisions have on our customers, our communities and our employees. While we have a good-sized company with 450 employees, we’re small enough that our folks know each other on a personal level, which fosters a family-like environment. And finally, being regional means I can get in the car and drive across our service territory to meet with employees, local leaders or customers. That helps me stay grounded, and connected, to our communities.

How does your military background impact your executive leadership style?

It’s fair to say that my experience in the military had a tremendous impact not only on my leadership style, but also on getting me to where I am today. I enlisted in the Army Reserve when I was in high school and was later blessed to be awarded a four-year Army ROTC scholarship that enabled me to attend college. I was able to earn an undergraduate business degree thanks to the military, and I studied and practiced leadership for four years while getting that degree. In terms of practical experience, my time in the military helped me gain the ability to be the calm presence in chaos, to put others first, to communicate effectively, and to take decisive action based on the situation and the information available at the time.

What has been your most rewarding experience in helping connect new areas to high-speed internet?

The personal stories of how our RightFiber internet improves the lives and livelihoods of the people in our communities are extremely rewarding. For example, we’ve helped small businesses thrive and grow by speeding up their ability to process credit card transactions. That increases their revenue, enables them to hire more employees and open new locations. We have also helped connect families that hadn’t previously had the ability to make video calls, helping grandparents FaceTime with grandkids, for example. We’ve enabled real telehealth options for folks in rural areas. These stories fuel our desire to continue to connect communities, businesses and families.

Bringing broadband to rural Arkansas has been a goal for decades. What is the status and what is Ritter’s role?

The director of the Arkansas State Broadband Office recently highlighted a report showing that Arkansas led the nation in increasing broadband connectivity measured since 2021. Ritter Communications is proud to have been a major player in making that happen with a variety of tactics. First, we launched RightFiber in 2021, which is a reimagining of what internet service can and should be. It uses the latest technology in fiber networks to deliver up to 5-gig speeds to homes. We made pricing simple, straightforward and affordable. By the end of this year, we will have expanded RightFiber to almost 100,000 homes in Arkansas. We’ve also invested considerable dollars to upgrade our existing cable network in the northeast part of the state, now allowing us to offer up to 2-gig services on our traditional Ritter Communications home internet service. And lastly, we’re proud to have been the recipient of the largest amount of grant dollars under the Arkansas Rural Connect program, having been awarded $67 million through 13 awards to connect cities like Stuttgart, Augusta and Brinkley, and rural areas in Crittenden, Cross, Independence, Jefferson, Pope and St. Francis counties. I’m also proud to note that we connected about 30% more homes than originally planned in the grant-funded communities, because we went past the grant award boundaries and extended our network — on our own dime — to nearby homes.

How do you plan to maintain Ritter’s competitive edge in the increasingly crowded fiber broadband market?

Our competitive edge lies in our Right by You motto, which means that we are bringing our customers the right services at the right price, and we do that literally right next to you — we’re in the community. Ritter Communications was started in Arkansas, our headquarters is here, we have multiple regional offices in the state, and our customer support teams are located in Jonesboro and Millington, Tennessee. We have never outsourced our customer care and won’t. Being present and active in our communities is important to us, and our employees pride themselves on being local supporters not because we tell them to, but because that’s the right thing to do. Customers recognize this and want to do business with a company that is not from another state, or even another country. Right by You also means being easy to work with, by offering simple, clear, straightforward and fair pricing on our services. That is also something that resonates with customers.

What can we expect in the near future from Ritter? And what do the next few years look like?

Ritter Communications is an amazing growth story. Our team has demonstrated tremendous success in connecting new communities and growing the business, especially over the last five years. You should expect us to continue this growth trajectory because this is what we do best — we deploy capital to expand our fiber network, we connect communities, our team serves our customers really well, and we improve the lives and livelihoods of our communities.