Emily West

Nearly 450,000 residents in the state don't have adequate broadband, according to the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development. The office has been tracking the data for years and will roll out its own map in the fall of where Tennesseans lack access to high-speed internet of at least 100 Mbps downstream and 20 Mbps upstream. This measurement is new for the department, so new that the Federal Communication Commission doesn't have that measurement on their own maps, which they believe will show up in the next iteration of data in late 2022 to early 2023.

Gov. Bill Lee (R-TN) understands a life without broadband internet. In fact, he still doesn't have high-speed internet inside his rural home in Fernvale, the small unincorporated community between Franklin and Leiper's Fork. Rural broadband was a part of Lee's 2018 campaign, and the governor told the organization he planned to follow in the footsteps of former-Gov. Bill Haslam (R-TN) to hand out grants in the state to rural areas that need it most.

Tennessee's Broadband Accessibility Act funnels $45 million to communities across the state that don't have broadband access. In addition to passing the accessibility act in 2017, the Tennessee legislature in 2018 loosened regulations to allow internet providers to partner with public utilities. The Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development received 66 applications in 2017 for the accessibility act's first round of funding. Each year for three years, $10 million in grants and $5 million in tax credits are available to private businesses.