Sixth Circuit hits FCC on broadband expansion

The U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals has reversed an FCC order that would have allowed Chattanooga's EPB to expand its gigabyte broadband internet service into rural counties outside its defined legal municipal service boundaries.

Under Tennessee law, municipal utilities have a geographic limitation as to where their service can be offered — i.e., EPB cannot expand its internet service past the reach of of its electric service. Neighboring rural counties without access to broadband internet asked EPB to expand, but the state law prevented them from doing so until the FCC stepped in.Â