If youre reading this with the aid of broadband Internet service, you are in a minority of Tennesseans.
Only one in four households has it, according to the Tennessee Broadband Task Force, a group that is pushing for affordable high-speed Internet access for all Tennesseans. The group, echoing a cause that was popular with the National Conference for Media Reform in Memphis last weekend, issued a report Thursday.
The task force spent six months studying broadband, which lets users quickly view and download stories, video, and graphics. Tennessee ranks 37th in the nation in broadband usage, the report says.
This world is becoming divided into the wired and the fired those with broadband lines and those in unemployment lines, said Roy Herron, a state senator from Dresden who co-chaired the task force.
The report calls for a public-private partnership to develop a statewide plan, with particular attention to rural areas.