More than one million Tennesseans are missing out on the economic, health and educational benefits of having internet access, according to our new policy brief on broadband infrastructure released Monday.

Roughly a quarter of Tennessee’s rural families are without any kind of broadband access, while 25% of the total population reports that they lack a high-speed internet subscription.

The fifth in a series related to our 2018 State of Our State dashboard, the report comes at a critical time for Tennessee, with the issue named a top priority by both Democratic and Republican candidates for U.S. Senate and governor this year.

Like so many other issues facing our state, there’s no one-size-fits-all solution to increasing broadband access and affordability, but there are ways for our state to empower local communities to make progress. (For more context, check out this article from the Johnson City Press, which features our data and describes how some local providers are already taking steps.)

And make no mistake: Tennesseans deserve change. Broadband internet is about more than being able to surf the web – it’s critical to economic and civic opportunity, connecting students to teachers, patients to doctors and workers to companies.

ThinkTennessee is proud to play a role in helping to inform this important debate and move our state forward.

Toward a better tomorrow,

Shanna Singh Hughey
President, ThinkTennessee
www.thinktennessee.org