State Rep. Kevin Brooks, R-Cleveland, blamed a phalanx of lobbying by large, commercial broadband companies.
"It's a testament to the power of lobbying against this bill and not listening to our electorate," Brooks said. "We have thousands of petitions signed (in support of the bill) and the voice of the people was not heard today."
The House Business and Utilities Subcommittee killed his bill, even though Brooks had amended it down to a "pilot" program in which the city-owned Electric Power Board of Chattanooga could expand its nationally acclaimed broadband service outside its Hamilton County service area and into adjoining Bradley County. Current Tennessee law allows municipal electric utilities to provide Internet service only within the boundaries of their electric service.
Supporters of rural broadband have tried for seven consecutive years to win approval of some form of legislation allowing local publicly owned electric utilities to expand their high-speed internet services outside of their immediate service areas but have been thwarted annually by lobbying by for-profit companies who have been slow to expand their high-speed telecommunications services into more sparsely populated — and less profitable — areas.
Swann, chairman of the subcommittee and a supporter of efforts to expand broadband, said those efforts have "all been put on hold until we come back next year. I think we've got the attention of the industry finally and I think they're going to come to the table and start talking seriously about this rather than running continual delays and delays."
Swann said he expects the issued will be studied by a legislative committee after the General Assembly adjourns, with a report back next year. In addition to the legislature, rural broadband availability is being examined by the state Department of Economic and Community Development and the Tennessee Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations, a state and local government research agency.
Rep. Dan Howell, R-Georgetown, said Brooks' bill was "a perfect opportunity" for a municipal broadband provider to prove the viability of expanding service outside its primary service area "but they wouldn't even let us do a pilot program."
©2016 The Commercial Appeal (Memphis, Tenn.) Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
