The Tale of Two [Tennessee] Cities

In Tennessee, only municipalities that own electric utilities can provide telecom services.  In other parts of the state, municipalities can only provide telecom in unserved areas in conjunction with the private sector.   The intent of the legislation is to protect taxpayers from over-investment, etc.  In a state with 95 counties and 34% of the population residing in rural areas, municipal broadband (partial, cable, fiber) exists in only 15 towns (10 counties).  Most of those counties are non-rural, including Chattanooga.  EPB Fiber Optics which operates the municipal broadband in Chattanooga  wants to expand its network into surrounding communities, but it is not able to do so because of the existing law.  Seems crazy!

Google Fiber has plans to enter Nashville, a city with technology, speed, and number of providers already higher than the state average.  (And, NESNet has dark cable there.)  Because of the economics of broadband, it has no announced plans to expand into other areas of Tennessee.  So, why not let the cities/towns do it themselves if they can make the economics work?

County	Muni	County Pop.	Muni Pop.	Muni Pop/ Co. Pop	Provider	Technology	Wireline no>2	Wireline no>3	Wireline no>4	DL>100	DL>50	DL>25
Unicoi	Erwin	18,082	6,097	33.7%	Erwin Utilities	Partial	79.9%	3.4%	0.0%	74.2%	74.2%	74.2%
Lincoln	Fayetteville	33,633	6,827	20.3%	Fayetteville Public Utl.	Cable	68.3%	36.7%	3.7%	31.3%	61.6%	61.7%
Giles	Pulaski	28,746	7,870	27.4%	PES Energize	Fiber	49.5%	34.8%	13.7%	38.9%	46.4%	46.4%
Coffee	Tullahoma	53,357	18,579	34.8%	Tullahoma Util. Board	Fiber	90.0%	71.6%	4.6%	87.2%	87.2%	87.2%
Sullivan	Bristol	156,595	26,702	17.1%	Bristol TN Essential Svc	Fiber	96.7%	47.5%	5.9%	98.9%	98.9%	98.9%
Maury	Columbia	83,761	34,681	41.4%	CPWS Broadband	Cable	85.7%	39.3%	2.0%	90.7%	90.7%	90.7%
Washington	Johnson City	125,546	65,123	51.9%	BVU OptiNet	Partial	96.5%	25.1%	4.3%	96.5%	96.5%	96.5%
Madison	Jackson	98,733	67,685	68.6%	Jackson Energy Auth.	Fiber	92.0%	74.0%	9.0%	91.0%	93.0%	93.0%
Montgomery	Clarksville	184,119	132,957	72.2%	Clarksville CDE Lightband	Fiber	91.9%	62.4%	5.2%	94.8%	94.8%	94.8%
Hamilton*	Chattanooga + 5	348,673	210,991	60.5%	EPB Fiber Optics	Fiber	98.1%	91.1%	12.0%	98.8%	98.8%	98.8%
Davidson	Nashville	658,602	569,891	86.5%	NESNet	Dark	98.4%	85.4%	31.9%	97.2%	97.2%	97.3%
TN State Average							84.0%	46.0%	11.0%	81.0%	82.0%	83.0%
Source: broadbandmap.gov