Tennessee Potential Partnership Between Morristown Muni and AEC Co-op Community Broadband Bits Podcast 203

Published: May 25, 2016, 1:52 p.m.

b'In Tennessee, this month marks 10 years of Morristown Utility Systems delivering fiber-optic triple-play service to the community, including great Internet access. But those living just outside the city and in nearby cities have poor access at best. MUS General Manager and CEO Jody Wigington returns to our show this week and we also welcome Appalachian Electric Cooperative (AEC) General Manager Greg Williams to discuss a potential partnership to expand Morristown services to those that want them.\\n\\nAs we have frequently noted, Tennessee law prohibits municipal fiber networks from expanding beyond their electric territories. The FCC decision repealing that favor to the big cable and telephone company lobbyists is currently being appealed. But Tennessee also prohibits electrical co-ops from providing telephone or cable TV service, which makes the business model very difficult in rural areas.\\n\\nNonetheless, MUS and AEC have studied how they can team up to use the assets of both to deliver needed services to those outside Morristown. We discuss their plan, survey results, the benefits of working together, and much more. \\n\\nRead the transcript from this show here.\\n\\nWe want your feedback and suggestions for the show-please e-mail us or leave a comment below.\\n\\nThis show is 24 minutes long and can be played below on this page or via iTunes or via the tool of your choice using this feed. \\n\\nYou can download this mp3 file directly from here. Listen to other episodes here or view all episodes in our index.\\n\\nThanks to Forget the Whale for the music, licensed using Creative Commons. The song is "I Know Where You\'ve Been."'