Legislative efforts to extend community-based fiber optic networks were placed on hold in the General Assembly Tuesday.
The state House Business and Utilities subcommittee tabled the measure (HB1303) to allow municipal utilities to provide fiber optic services beyond their current service area until the January 2016 calendar.
In the Senate Commerce and Labor committee, bill sponsor state Sen. Janice Bowling (R-Tullahoma) placed the measure (S1134) on hold due to a lack of support among state lawmakers.
Bowling said she trusts this will make it easier to continue the process in the next legislative session.
“Thanks to a growing number of Tennesseans who are contacting their representatives to communicate their critical need for broadband services we made more progress this legislative session than ever before,” Bowling said. “Next year, I hope the needs of the hundreds of thousands of Tennesseans with little or no broadband service will prevail. The vested interests of the legacy carriers who refuse to serve them while lobbying to prevent community-based providers from meeting the needs of the people in our state must be more clearly confirmed.”
Advocates for broadband expansion in Tennessee, like Tullahoma Utilities Board general manager Brian Skelton, remain hopeful that Tennessee’s territorial restrictions will eventually be removed.
TUB is one of seven municipal broadband providers in the state offering with a community-wide fiber network, LightTUBe, and is one of five providers offering 1 gigabit per second download/upload speeds, the fastest internet speeds in the country.
“Supporters plan to continue working and building support for this bill in the coming months to be ready to bring the bill back to the legislature next year,” said Skelton.
Bowling emphasized the need for concerned citizens to get involved. “I invite every Tennessean who is passionate about broadband to make your views known to your state representatives,” Bowling said. “If your educational opportunities, your job prospects, your business, your access to telemedicine, your ability to buy or sell real estate or other basic needs are impaired, lawmakers in Nashville need to hear from you. Access to high speed broadband is to the 21st century, what access to electricity was to the 20th century. It is essential.”
In addition, Bowling said removing Tennessee’s territorial restrictions reinforces free-market competition. “Currently, most Tennesseans have no choice when it comes to broadband,” said Bowling. “The lucky ones have one broadband provider and many have no choice for broadband services at all. The Tennessee Fiber Optic Communities are proving competition is good both for customers and the competitive businesses themselves. I want to see that kind of competition spread across the state.”
Harold DePriest, president and CEO of EPB and chair of the Tennessee Fiber Optic Communities, pointed to the value of giving local elected leaders the freedom and responsibility to make infrastructure decisions for the betterment of the communities they serve. “State officials would never tell city or county leaders that they couldn’t build roads for local residents and businesses,” DePriest said. “In the 21st Century, broadband infrastructure is just as critical as good roadways to the economic development and quality of life of a community. Allowing investor-driven entities headquartered in other states to pick which Tennessee communities win and which lose when it comes to this critical infrastructure undermines the fundamental principle of local control.”
Those interested in learning more about how to support broadband expansion in Tennessee are encouraged to call (423) 648-1372 or email your name, address, and email to Diese E-Mail-Adresse ist vor Spambots geschützt! Zur Anzeige muss JavaScript eingeschaltet sein! and ask to be added to the Broadband Expansion information list.
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Autor(en)/Author(s): Kelly Lapczynski
Quelle/Source: The Tullahoma News, 02.04.2015
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