The Municipal Broadband Solution

The Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) has proven to be a digital lifeline for its 23 million beneficiaries. However, although lawmakers have known for over a year that the fund would be bankrupt by this spring, GOP congressional leaders have not budged on even bipartisan attempts to save the ACP, prompting the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to announce in January the wind down the popular program. It’s a major setback for the “Internet for All” effort, especially in light of a recent FCC survey that found 29 percent of ACP beneficiaries would be left without any home internet service whatsoever without the benefit. One city that’s well prepared to deal with the demise of the ACP is Chattanooga (TN). Thanks to the foresight of the city’s electric utility, EPB, Chattanooga built a citywide fiber-to-the-home network over a decade ago. The municipally financed project came with a $220 million price tag, but has reaped a $2.7 billion return on investment for the city over its first ten years of operation. When the COVID pandemic hit and students needed internet in order to learn, the city started the HCS EdConnect program, which provides free fiber service to all households with students on free and reduced lunch. The bottom-up, community-centered approach taken Chattanooga and other cities with municipal broadband allows cities and towns to do something the private monopoly providers won’t: treat high-speed internet access more like a utility that seeds transformative economic development, rather than a profit-maximizing business venture primarily concerned with lining shareholder pockets.