Image
Fast, affordable Internet access for all.
Charter to Cleveland, TN: You Are Not Sufficiently Profitable
By
on
Not too far away from Chattanooga, Tennessee, (home to the largest muni fiber network in the U.S.) lies Cleveland (Tennessee). Five prominent residents asked why they cannot get broadband:
The homeowners have discussed the problem with Charter Communications Director of Government Relations Nick Pavlis three times.
Pavlis said in a telephone interview it would cost the cable company $130,000 to run an underground cable 2 1/2 miles and “it’s just not a reasonable payback.”
He said the company spends $500 per house as a general rule, which gives them a 36-48 month return on investment.
Yet Charter has no problem lobbying the states to prohibit publicly owned networks. Tennessee probably has more fiber-to-the-home initiatives than any other state - perhaps it is time Cleveland looked into their own or cajoling a nearby network into expanding.
Related Stories
Cleveland, Tennessee’s City-Owned Utility Getting Into Broadband Business
The Cleveland, Tennessee city council has approved the creation of the Cleveland Utilities Authority, the first step in allowing the city-owned utility to get into the broadband business. Of the initial $72 million investment, $64 million will be funded by public-issued debt, and go towards construction of the network, which Cleveland Utilities states should begin in March of 2024 and be completed in “roughly two to three years” barring complications.
Syracuse, NY Votes to Provide Low Cost Fixed Wireless Broadband to Low Income Households
City officials in Syracuse, New York have formally approved a new project to provide heavily discounted wireless broadband to low-income city residents.
Florida Designates $144 Million in ARPA Funds for 58 Broadband Projects
Florida’s state broadband office is doling out $144 million in grants to 58 different broadband expansion projects across 41 Florida counties.
New York City’s Ambitious Broadband Plan Is A Shadow Of Its Former Self
In 2020, New York City officials unveiled a massive new broadband proposal they promised would dramatically reshape affordable broadband access in the city.
Instead, the program has been steadily and quietly dismantled, replaced by a variety of costly half-measures that critics say don’t solve the actual, underlying cause of expensive, substandard broadband.
Charter, Comcast Continue to Dominate State Grant Awards
While cooperatives, utilities, and municipalities are seeing a welcome portion of Covid relief and infrastructure bill funding, the nation’s two biggest cable broadband monopolies continue to hoover up the lion’s share of most new broadband infrastructure grants.
Charter, Comcast Continue to Dominate State Grant Awards
While cooperatives, utilities, and municipalities are seeing a welcome portion of Covid relief and infrastructure bill funding, the nation’s two biggest cable broadband monopolies continue to hoover up the lion’s share of most new broadband infrastructure grants.