STATE SENATE APPROVES BROADBAND ACCESSIBILITY ACT OF 2017
The State Senate has opened the way for rural areas to get access to the internet by passing the Broadband Accessibility Act of 2017. The law has been a major staple of Gov. Bill Haslam this year. Locally, both the Crossville City Council and Cumberland County Commission have signed resolutions in favor of the bill which opens the way for electric co-ops to start selling internet and video service. However, the question of speedy service is still up-in-the-air. An amendment added to the bill says internet download speeds would not have to be more than 10 megabits per second, far less than the 25 megabits per second that the Federal Communications Commission defines as broadband speed. In his State of the State Address earlier this year, Gov. Haslam said that every school-age student should have access to information on the internet.