Tennessee to move ahead with new broadband coverage map

Tennessee officials are moving forward with a plan to map out just where hundreds of thousands of Tennesseans without access to high-speed Internet live, following the lead of other states that no longer rely on federal maps that overstate coverage in some communities. The plan involves collecting and validating service data from broadband providers in Tennessee for about a year, with an anticipated completion of summer 2022, said Crystal Ivey, broadband director for the state Department of Economic and Community Development. The estimated cost for the initial statewide map will be $450,000, though full details of the initiative are still being finalized, Ivey said. The state’s decision follows the advice of the Tennessee Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations, or TACIR. The panel said in a report that Tennessee should join several states in seeking more precision and not waiting around for a rewrite of the federal maps, which are based on data supplied by broadband providers. That rewrite is in the works but with no definitive timeline.