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| | Wednesday, February 03, 2016
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Broadband lobbying.
Advocates of expanded broadband in rural Tennessee are in Nashville today encouraging lawmakers to open opportunities for local utilities to provide broadband to their customers. They are asking state lawmakers to pass a bill this year to allow municipal electric utilities to extend broadband service into areas not served by commercial providers. But House Speaker Beth Harwell says she doesn't see that happening this year. She says the Legislature likely will wait until a study of the issue is completed later this year. The Tennessee Municipal Electric Power Association, representing municipal-owned electric utilities, and other groups are pressing for action before the General Assembly adjourns in late April. An estimated 422,000 households across Tennessee don't have access to landline Internet speeds that meet the FCC minimum standard for high-speed broadband. An additional 1.6 million Tennessee households have access to only one provider. Commercial providers say they don't want to expand their service to rural areas because they are concerned that within a year or two, utilities will provide the service at a lower price. Harwell said she does not expect to see legislative action on a gas tax increase this year but admitted the shortfall in road funding will have to be addressed in the future." Gov. Bill Haslam has proposed using $130 million in surplus revenue to restore half of $260 million taken from the state transportation fund to balance the state budget more ten years ago when revenues were lagging
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