Hang on, those of you in the broadband wilderness, help may be on the way.
A federal appeals court ruled Wednesday that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) incorrectly overturned state restrictions on municipal broadband providers in North Carolina and Tennessee last year. That was the correct decision since the FCC had no legal authority over states to do such a thing.
But, because of the ruling, in what eventually will be a win for the more than 830,000 Tennesseans without access, the state legislature is likely next year to consider proposals to end state restrictions on where municipal power utilities such as EPB can offer broadband service. In conjunction with that, it is also likely to consider bills that would lift the ban on electric cooperatives getting into the broadband business.
We’re where we are because investor-owned utilities like AT&T or Comcast understandably did not want to spend the money to expand into rural areas until it was financially feasible to do so. But if they didn’t and the municipal providers couldn’t, residents in rural areas were out of luck.
In 21st-century America, access to broadband is critical for commerce, communication and education. Without it, rural residents are like the pre-TVA Tennessee towns in the 1930s which had no access to electricity. It’s as if these residents aren’t living in the same decade as their neighbors not too far down the road.