Dickson County citizens, most of them rural residents, recently spoke in favor of Dickson Electric System creating a broadband division at a recent required public hearing.
Multiple residents from the rural northern areas of the county said they were relieved that DES is planning to offer broadband, and some expressed frustration about the length of the startup process at the March 18 hearing.
Tonya Garner, of Cumberland Furnace, said the broadband network “can’t” take years to set up.
“We just need it,” Garner said. “It can’t be four years.”
She also asked about the Cumberland Furnace being among the first areas to get DES broadband, noting there were multiple Cumberland Furnace residents at the hearing.
Dakota Gordon, a representative of nonprofit Better Tomorrow in Tennessee, was the lone speaker against DES broadband, saying it was a “direct attack on the free market that Tennessean’s cherish.”
“This proposed expansion is a clear effort by the government to unfairly compete with the private sector and a direct attack on the free market that Tennesseans cherish,” Gordon said.
Related:Dickson Electric Broadband: Here are prices, services, timeline in DES plan
Linda Reeve, a Vanleer resident and business owner, said broadband options in that area are “tragic.”
“We don’t have options. It’s not a free market out there,” Reeve said.
She also refuted Gordon’s argument, saying “I would put Dickson Electric against any of those companies, any day.”
DES General Manager Darrell Gillespie provided an overview of the process using a PowerPoint presentation and talked about the impetus for creating a broadband division.
Gillespie said DES can “try to address those unserved, underserved folks that are in rural areas.”
The manager also said DES heard from many customers during the pandemic about broadband need as more people began working and learning remotely.
Broadband pricing would improve overall, whether using DES, Comcast or AT&T, Gillespie said.
“It’s a good thing for the consumer. It will drive the price down,” he said.
DES also wouldn’t be motivated solely by profit in providing service, Gillespie said.
“(Private companies) won’t go down a street and serve a customer that’s three miles down the road because it’s not profitable. We will go to those customers. We will serve those customers,” Gillespie said.
“We are going to do everything we can to make (broadband) convenient for them,” said Gillespie, adding that they add about 1,000 customers annually.
With the public hearing complete, the DES Power Board could approve the broadband division at its April 5 meeting. The Dickson Council could then approve broadband at its May monthly meeting.
Source: The Tennessean