Community Broadband Networks Now Serve 130 US Cities as Municipal Internet Defeats Telecom Lobby in 14 More States

📋 Chattanooga: The Gig City That Proved Municipal Broadband Works

In 2009, when Comcast and AT&T declined to upgrade Chattanooga's internet infrastructure, the city-owned Electric Power Board (EPB) built its own fiber optic network using $111 million in federal stimulus funds matched by $58 million in municipal bonds. The result was the first citywide gigabit internet service in the United States, delivered by a public utility, at a time when the national average broadband speed was 3.8 Mbps.

Today, EPB Fiber serves 120,000 customers with symmetrical 25-gigabit service for $99/month—the fastest residential internet in the Western Hemisphere—plus a low-income tier at $26/month for 100 Mbps. "Chattanooga proved definitively that internet service is infrastructure, not a luxury commodity, and that public utilities can deliver it better than for-profit monopolies," says Christopher Mitchell, Director of the Community Broadband Networks Initiative at the Institute for Local Self-Reliance.

The economic impact has been transformative. A University of Tennessee study found that EPB Fiber generated $2.69 billion in cumulative economic benefit for the Chattanooga community between 2011 and 2025, mainly through business formation and attraction in the tech sector. The city's Innovation District now hosts 130+ tech companies drawn by the infrastructure advantage, and the city has rebranded itself as "Gig City," a tech talent magnet in a state otherwise dominated by manufacturing and logistics. "When a two-person startup can get 25-gigabit internet for $99 a month, that removes one of the biggest infrastructure barriers to competing from anywhere," says Mayor Tim Kelly. "Chattanooga is showing that the innovation economy doesn't have to cluster in six coastal cities."

📋 The Legislative Battle for Local Broadband Authority

For two decades, telecom lobbying produced state-level "preemption laws" in 19 states that banned or severely restricted municipal broadband networks—a textbook case of regulatory capture protecting monopoly markets from public competition. But a sustained campaign by community broadband advocates has produced a remarkable reversal: since 2019, 14 states have repealed, amended, or substantially weakened these laws, including most recently Colorado and Arkansas in 2026 state legislative sessions.

The remaining holdout states, including Texas, Tennessee, and Missouri, have seen preemption repeal bills introduced and advancing through committee, with advocacy groups optimistic about 2027 legislative sessions.

"The pandemic was the turning point," explains Gigi Sohn, former FCC Commissioner and longtime public broadband advocate. "When schools went remote and millions of families discovered that their 'broadband' was actually 10-megabit DSL that couldn't support a single Zoom call—while the kids in Chattanooga were using gigabit fiber—the political calculus flipped. Municipal broadband went from a niche libertarian-left policy to a kitchen-table issue in every rural and underserved community." The Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program, allocating $42 billion for broadband expansion, directed $12 billion specifically to municipal, cooperative, and public-private partnership networks, providing the federal funding that had previously been the primary barrier for cash-strapped municipalities.

Community broadband networks now serve 130 US cities and towns, collectively connecting 2.8 million households with fiber-to-the-home service. Independent pricing analyses by the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) and Consumer Reports show that municipal broadband customers pay 20-40% less than customers of major private ISPs for equivalent speeds, with no data caps, no introductory pricing schemes that spike after 12 months, and no hidden equipment fees.

Wilson, North Carolina's Greenlight municipal network, operational since 2008, charges $54.95 for 1-gigabit service—roughly what Comcast charges for 200 Mbps in nearby markets—and an impact study estimated the network saves Wilson residents $11 million annually compared to private ISP pricing. "Community broadband isn't just cheaper—it's accountable," says Mitchell. "When your ISP is your local government, and the board that sets policy is elected by the community, the incentives align with service quality, not shareholder returns.

That's the structural difference, and it produces consistently better outcomes at lower prices across every market where municipal broadband competes."