In a recent report, WBIR Knoxville shined the spotlight on Morristown. The article and video discuss how FiberNET has improved its telecommunications landscape by inspiring competition, offered better connectivity to the region, and how state law prevents other towns from reaping similar benefits. We encourage you to watch both of the videos below.
Morristown’s utility head describes how it considers high-speed Internet access to be a necessary utility:
“You had railroads, you had interstates, and this is the new infrastructure cities need to have,” said Jody Wigington, CEO of Morristown Utility Systems (MUS). “To us, this really is as essential to economic development as having electricity or water.”
Morristown began offering gigabit service via its FTTH network in 2012. It began serving residents and businesses in 2006 because the community was fed up with poor service from incumbents. Since then, FiberNET has stimulated economic development, saved public dollars, and boosted competition from private providers.
Prices for Internet access are considerably lower in Morristown than similar communities. From the article:
Morristown’s Internet service is more expensive than Chattanooga, but much faster than the rest of the region at a comparable price. A 100 Mbps synchronous connection is $75 per month. Advertised rates for Comcast in Knoxville show a price of almost $80 per month for a 50 Mbps connection with much slower upload speeds. A 50 Mbps connection in Morristown costs $40 per month. The cable Internet option in Morristown is Charter, with an advertised price of 35 Mbps for $40 a month.
As we have seen time and again, the presence of a municipal network (nay, just the rumor of one!) inspires private providers to improve their services. AT&T offers gigabit service in Morristown and Comcast has announced it plans on offering 2 gigabit service in Chattanooga.
“Without a major disruptor like we’ve seen in Chattanooga and in Morristown, there’s really no reason for these guys [private companies] to go out of their way to make a big spend to make bandwidth faster. It just simply doesn’t make good business sense,” said [Dan] Thompson, [senior analyst for Claris Networks].
Thompson said he does not believe there should be any concern that municipal Internet would result in a monopoly akin to other utilities.
“If you go to Chattanooga, Comcast advertises like crazy on billboards down there. You don’t see that here [in Knoxville] at all. Comcast is still there. AT&T is still there. They’re still viable options.”
Beyond offering better service to residents, FiberNET also attracts more employers. In 2013, we reported on 228 new jobs in the community, attracted here in part because of FiberNET’s reliability. Most recently:
“There is a new call center that is looking at relocating to Morristown. They told us the local provider can get them fiber in the building for around $1,000. The guy from our utility company told him we’ve already got fiber to your front door and we’ll put it in the building for free because you’re going to be helping our economy and jobs. Their jaws drop. Businesses really are shocked by what we have here,” said [President of the Morristown Chamber of Commerce Marshall] Ramsey. “They looked at Blount County and looked at Knoxville, but the confidence in the networks just isn’t there right now.”
Even though the FCC struck down state restrictions on municipal networks in Tennessee, local communities are not rushing to deploy their own networks. The state is challenging the federal action, and no local community has announced an expansion due to the uncertainty around the appeal. With this appeal, the state of Tennessee is wasting taxpayer dollars to deliberately slow the deployment of essential infrastructure in rural communities.
As Wigington acknowledges in the story, a municipal fiber network is no small endeavor. Nevertheless, only a local community can know if it has the ability, drive, and need to venture into Internet access as a utility.
Wigington said the decision of whether to compete with private industry should ultimately be made by the cities, not made for them by the legislature or the cable companies.
“Cities need to be able to make this decision.”
This article is apart of MuniNetworks. The original piece can be found here
