At KUB Fiber we're proud to be expanding high-speed internet throughout Knox County — especially in areas that have long been underserved. But why is a utility company like KUB entering the internet business?
Read on to learn more about the history of electric companies like ours — and why we view broadband as the right next step for our company and community!
How TVA Electrified Rural America — and What It Means for Broadband
It seems like a long time ago, but just 90 years ago, a staggering number of homes in rural America were left out of the electricity boom that ignited cities and suburbs (and their economies) elsewhere in the country. Indeed, 90% of all rural households had no access to electricity. Rural America was essentially left behind as the rest of urban and suburban America plowed ahead.
But that began to change in the early-to-mid 1930’s. Beginning with President Franklin Roosevelt’s rural electrification initiative, the United States began prioritizing bringing the power and promise of electricity to more remote areas.
One of the most well-known (and largest) of these actions was the creation of the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) in 1933. A vast public works effort, the TVA provided power to millions of Americans in seven states: Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia.
After the enormous success of TVA in expanding economic opportunity and improving quality of life to TVA service areas, other initiatives grew to replicate the revitalizing impacts of bringing electricity to rural areas. Among those was the Roosevelt Administration’s drafting of the model law known as the Electric Cooperative Corporation Act (ECCA). The ECCA helped states develop consumer-owned, non-profit electric cooperatives that help light up rural areas to this day.
Why Didn't Private Companies Provide Rural Internet or Electricity?
Nearly 100 years ago, it took a herculean effort to provide power to the rural regions of America. From the massive dam, reservoir, and electric grid systems of TVA to the intricate electric cooperative legislation that enables coops to exist to this day, a lot of work — and money — went into electrifying rural America.
Well, the reason why coops and other resources were needed to provide electricity also bears on why KUB is now providing fiber internet. For both gargantuan efforts — electricity and broadband internet — massive amounts of capital investments are needed. And since rural areas naturally have a smaller number of customers to warrant that investment, larger private companies and banks just weren’t touching it.
For decades prior to the 1930s, it was this natural economic reality that prevented rural America from getting electricity that would enable proper development and advancement. And the same economic reality has been true for high-speed internet service today.
Electric Co-ops: A Proven Model for Expanding Rural Internet Access
In the same way that large electric companies would not invest in rural America in the early 20th century, most large internet service providers did not see the profitability necessary for them to invest heavily in infrastructure to provide high-speed internet to those same areas in the early 21st century. History, it seemed, was about to repeat itself, leaving rural America behind.
But innovative thinkers realized that electric cooperatives could be the model for providing rural broadband across underserved regions of the country. After all, they already had the authority to provide similar essential services — namely electricity. And they had the legislative and regulatory frameworks in place to properly manage and operate the extensive capital efforts an advanced fiber network requires.
Thus, in a sense, it is perfectly natural that electric coops like KUB are offering you high-speed internet! We are filling the same kinds of previously unfulfilled community needs that larger companies overlooked in the last century. And we’re doing it in the same consumer-owned, not-for-profit way that you and your neighbors have trusted for years.
Ready to experience the future of internet in Knoxville? Contact KUB Fiber to learn about our plans and availability in your area.