Tennessee rural development depends on broadband plan

The Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development has been working to ensure that Tennessee is the No. 1 state in the Southeast for high quality jobs and succeeding.  In the past two years, TNECD has received nearly 50,000 job commitments from expanding or relocating businesses that have committed nearly $11 billion capital investment in our state. Tennessee has also been recognized as first in the nation for advance industry job growth, first in foreign direct investment job creation, and second in the household median income growth.  But there’s a critical piece to continuing this momentum — broadband. Broadband, high speed internet, is critical not just for economic development but also for education, health care, agriculture and quality of life. Too many Tennesseans (around 800,000 people including 34 percent of all rural areas) are living without the connectivity they need for growing businesses and thriving communities, and our neighboring states and others across the country continue to launch new broadband initiatives.  Governor Haslam has rolled out his plan to increase broadband access through targeted investment, deregulation and education.  The main barrier to the availability of broadband is the high cost of getting it to areas with low population density. That’s why Governor Haslam’s plan includes a targeted investment of $45 million over three years to provide grants and tax credits to offset the capital costs in the hardest to reach areas. Ten million dollars in grants will be available each year to provide broadband for unserved areas. In addition, business tax credits of $5 million will be available to providers that deploy broadband in target areas.