FCC decision gives counties hope of blazing Internet speeds

Communities in North Carolina and Tennessee are moving closer to the information autobahn ultrahigh-speed Internet thanks to the Federal Communications Commission's recent decision on municipal broadband.

How fast is ultra-high-speed, or gigabit, Internet? Speedy enough to download 25 songs per second or a high-definition movie in 36. In both states, municipal utilities are providing faster, cheaper Internet access than "big telecom" is offering.

On a 3 2 vote, the FCC recently approved petitions from Wilson, N.C. and Chattanooga, Tenn. Last month to preempt laws in both states that "[hamper] investment and deployment of broadband networks in areas where consumers would benefit from greater levels of broadband service," according to FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler.

Some 20 states nationwide block or limit municipal broadband efforts.

In Chattanooga, the Hamilton County seat, a city-owned utility, EPB, offers Internet access and services throughout its 600-square-mile electric service territory. A state law barred the utility from expanding broadband beyond that footprint and into areas of Bradley and Hamilton counties.

"We'll likely look to southwest Bradley County and the portion of Hamilton County that we do not currently serve first," said Harold DePriest, president and CEO of EPB, said in a statement.

Hamilton County Mayor Jim Coppinger applauds the FCC's Feb. 26 opinion and order. The FCC action moves the county closer to the goal of making "highspeed broadband available to all homes and businesses in Hamilton County," he said.

The SouthEast Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors (SEATOA) also praised the decision. "SEATOA has consistently stood behind the principal that local leaders should be empowered to make decisions about their own communities," Michael Williams, the organization's acting president, said in an email to County News. "This principle should definitely apply to their own technology infrastructure."

SEATOA represents localities, individuals and regional authorities that develop, regulate and administer voice, video, data communications, broadband and Public, Educational, and Governmental Access operations in Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee.

Williams added, "Many communities both rural and urban in our SEATOA states are currently suffering from a technology gap that is drastically limiting both their educational and economic growth. How these communities solve these problems should not be restricted by regulations which seek to limit their decision-making authority."

As with EPB in Chattanooga, Wilson the seat of Wilson County also provides gigabit broadband, voice and video service in addition to electricity. But a 2011 North Carolina law imposed conditions on the city that effectively prevented it from expanding broadband into neighboring counties, even if they requested it. Wilson's municipal utility provides electric service in six eastern North Carolina counties and broadband service in Wilson County.

Meanwhile, Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) and Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) have already introduced a bill stating that "the FCC cannot preempt states with municipal broadband laws already on the books, or any other states that subsequently adopt such municipal broadband laws."

Still, community broadband advocates are optimistic. Christopher Mitchell, director of the Community Broadband Networks Initiative at the Minnesota-based Institute for Local Self-Reliance, is among them. He said both Wheeler and President Obama have raised the issue's profile.

"I feel like the whole process is actually benefiting communities around the country, even though this decision only impacts the communities in two states, and frankly could be reversed or it could be stayed but we'll still have all those other benefits from the bully pulpit and all the engagement we've seen on the issue."