Chattanooga Times free Press

Since the EdConnect program launched in 2020, more than 16,000 low-income students in Hamilton County, Tennessee, and 28,000 of their family members have received free internet in their homes. The effort works to close the digital divide and involves parents more in the education of their children.

The $65 billion allocated to improve broadband internet access in the infrastructure law President Biden signed November 15 should make broadband more accessible and affordable for lower-income households across the US, including the 13 percent of Tennessee households that lack any broadband connections to the internet. US Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm recently praised Chattanooga (TN)'s city-owned utility, EPB, for pioneering the first citywide Gig internet service as part of its fiber-optic network built more than a decade ago to create a smarter and more versatile electric grid.

Despite Hamilton County (TN) Schools' efforts to ensure students had technology and teachers had a game plan, many educators say academic engagement wasn't where they'd like it to be. In many cases, access to broadband internet or Wi-Fi was the biggest barrier for student learning.

The $226.8 million investment American electric power and telecommunications company EPB launched in 2009 on fiber optic technology has helped to transform EPB and Chattanooga (TN). By boasting the fastest citywide internet service in the Western Hemisphere with Gig service in 2010 and 10 Gig service by 2015, EPB secured Chattanooga's claim as "the Gig City" and has helped anchor the Innovation District, with many businesses developed or drawn to Chattanooga by the fast internet links. High-speed connections from EPB helped attract and grow such online startups as the moving service Bellhop

GOP nominee for Gov of TN Bill Lee may run a $225 million-a-year business and live in the wealthiest county in TN, but when he connects to the internet at his cattle farm in Fernvale (TN), he has to use a satellite dish. "Like a lot of rural areas, we still don't have broadband and when there is a storm, we play a lot of Yahtzee at home," Lee said. But Lee said the lack of access to high-speed internet service is no fun and games for many rural residents.

Many of the power cooperatives that helped electrify rural Tennessee in the 1930s and 1940s are gearing up for a similar effort to bring high-speed broadband to rural areas not connected to today's information superhighway. But similar to electrification of the South in the early 20th century, the telecommunications upgrades for rural broadband are likely to be costly and take years or even decades to fully implement.

In the shadow of “Gig City,” Chattanooga (TN), there are hundreds of people -- nearly all in rural areas -- who can't access even basic broadband Internet.

"It is a tale of two districts," said Corey Johns, executive director of Connected Tennessee, a statewide organization that tracks and works to improve broadband coverage in Tennessee. About 8 percent of Tennessee's households have no access to broadband, according to Connected Tennessee. In Northwest Georgia, about 5 percent of households are unserved, the Georgia Technology Association reports.

In a world where everything from college classes to paying bills is done online, the lack of access spells trouble for rural areas, Polk County Executive Hoyt Firestone said. "It's not a luxury," he said. "Broadband is a necessity in today's environment. It's today's pathway for economic development. Just like the highway improvement acts and the interstate system -- Internet service can do that for telecommunications. If we can't acquire the same service as the larger urban areas, we're going to fall way behind."

Yet despite potential customers who are practically begging for Internet providers to expand to their areas, the big players so far haven't pulled the trigger on very rural broadband. That's because it's hard to make a profit on rural lines, said Mark Wigfield, Federal Communications Commission spokesman.