Once again, the rural expansion of municipally owned broadband service is a hot topic in Nashville. Don’t think it will be going away any time soon.
The conversation around the issue is messy, heated and (to conservative idealogues like me) captivating. Yes, captivating. Because boiled down to its truest essence, the debate is over the proper role of government. In this case, should the public sector compete head-to-head with the private sector?
Columnist David MartinAcross most of Hamilton County that question has apparently been resolved, since city-owned EPB has squared off against the likes of Comcast and Charter Communications for years. Now, of course, Chattanooga’s neighbors would love to tap into those famed “lightning fast” Internet and cable speeds.
But should they have access to them?
Perhaps the best place to start when pondering that is to ask another question: Is broadband a basic necessity?