Jacob Resor: Public utilities should be allowed to expand broadband
The struggle for rural broadband continues in Tennessee and beyond. Much like with rural electrification in the 1920s and '30s, what was once considered a useful amenity has now become an essential utility. In truth, it seems a foregone conclusion that rural broadband is going to happen eventually. Now we must decide if it is going to be done well or poorly. What would it look like for it to be done well? For starters, it is important to remember that there will be no one-size-fits-all approach. With this in mind, we should move forward from the conviction that a local community is best equipped to decide how to meet its needs in regards to essential infrastructure and services. This conviction of communal self-determination is close to the heart of all in our country, state and region. Given this, there are many options on the table, both public and private.
One option that has been on the table for years is to allow public utilities to offer broadband outside their current electrical service footprint. Under current state law, public electric utilities (such as KUB here in Knoxville) are authorized to offer broadband to those inside their electrical service footprint, but not beyond it. As the process of installing electrical infrastructure is very different from that of broadband infrastructure, the linking of these two is somewhat arbitrary.
There are nine public utilities in Tennessee that offer broadband. If each of them were allowed to expand their broadband service beyond their electrical service footprint, it would potentially make broadband available to tens of thousands of people. This is not including the public utilities that may in the future provide broadband service, a number that will surely continue to rise.
The Knox County Board of Commissioners has the opportunity to adopt a resolution in support of allowing public utility boards to offer fiber-optic broadband outside their electrical service footprint. Several counties in East Tennessee, including Jefferson, Grainger, Loudon and Roane, have adopted similar resolutions. I can hear the libertarian chorus ringing in my ears now: "Let the private sector handle it. Your public option just means you’re going to use my money to pay for other people’s internet." Well, as things stand now, AT&T is planning to expand service to rural areas of Tennessee, but they are getting $428 million a year to do so from the Connect America Fund, which, while not funded by taxes, is supported by phone fees that we all pay.
In other words, it will not be a pure free market that supplies this essential utility to rural Tennesseans and Americans (despite what ideological values we may hold sacred). In other words, either way, our dollars are going to go toward providing broadband service to rural Tennesseans and Americans (and we should be OK with that). You do, however, have some choices to make.
Do you want the money customers pay for their internet utility to stay in the local communities made up of the people who are paying for it, or to be sent to corporations outside the region? If it’s the former, you should want public utilities to be allowed to expand.
Do you want local communities to be positioned to be able to actually have input on their essential infrastructure, or to place before them an uphill battle every time they wish to influence the arrangement of their own community because it requires getting the attention of an intractable, indifferent corporation? If it’s the former, you should want public utilities to be allowed to expand.
Jacob Resor lives in Knoxville. Contact him at jakeresor@gmail.com.