The following transcript has been edited for time and readability. Listen to the entire discussion here on The Broadband Bunch.
Craig Corbin:
Hello everyone. And welcome to another edition of the Broadband Bunch. I’m Craig Corbin. Thanks so much for joining us.
Craig Corbin:
Just a decade ago, EPB quickly gained the attention of everyone by becoming the first provider in the nation to launch gig speed internet, while making it accessible to every home and business in Chattanooga and the surrounding area via a community-wide fiber optics network. EPB followed that up by deploying the most advanced and highly automated smart grid power management system in the country. Along the way, EPB became the first major power distribution utility to earn the United States Green Building Council’s Peer Certification for having a highly automated smart grid power management system. And they continue to be a leader in fiber optic innovation, becoming the first and to date, only American ISP to provide up to 10 gig internet speeds accessible to all of its residential and commercial customers as a standard offer.
Craig Corbin:
Our guest today has been a member of the EPB team for years and as the Account Manager for Broadband Solutions is a big part of their continuing success. It is a pleasure to welcome Joey Greer.
Craig Corbin:
EPB has truly been an innovator and a leader in community fiber optics and broadband around the nation. When you started offering 10 gig service, that was the best in the world at that time. Obviously, there’s a tremendous legacy there at EPB and that continues to this day. What’s it been like for you to be a part of that process?
Joey Greer:
It’s been great to work with such talented people in this industry, with wonderfully forward-thinking leadership as to how we can continue to develop our community and how we can continue to help out other communities. I feel truly blessed to be a part of the EPB team and the work we do on a daily basis.
Craig Corbin:
You talk about helping other communities, other municipalities that are evaluating the possibility of getting into the world of broadband and that’s certainly a huge part of what EPB is involved in now is helping others to get a head start in that process. How is EPB approaching that task?
Joey Greer:
We started by really having our mission here in Chattanooga to create a great avenue for reliable power (obviously), and economic development. A lot of utilities, all utilities, that’s what our mandated mission is. We’ve started to work to expand that mission a little bit as broadband has become more and more of forefront on that regard. We help other communities that want to compete and thrive and transform their areas through fiber-optic networks. We have assisted hundreds as they consider building and launching networks of their own for their communities. We share expertise in different areas, try to help them to avoid some of the mistakes that we made or different other mistakes.
Joey Greer:
We can help them increase their speed to market through a couple of avenues, reduce capital cost, reduce ongoing operational expenses and cost. And one of the greatest things that we can do is we can leverage our team here at EPB to help them launch with exceptional customer service to really help provide that great service provider experience to their customers. We’ve been doing this for roughly about eight years. We actually created a new division called our Broadband Solutions Division and our mission is to help other communities experience the benefits of fiber networks and so they can thrive today and in the future.
Craig Corbin:
As you have conversations with those other municipalities and co-ops, utilities, what seems to be the biggest driving factor in their consideration of a move to broadband?
Joey Greer:
I would say that the biggest factor there is really making sure that the economic development that electric power brought in the thirties and forties, now broadband is that second piece of that puzzle and really helping them continue to kind of compete and thrive in their area for economic development. That’s really the biggest thing that we hear is just being able to compete and thrive. You see that a lot in different rural communities. You see that in different underserved communities. Providing that good quality way of life and economic development is really the key crucial aspect there.
Craig Corbin:
Years ago, municipalities all over the country began to realize that having broadband connectivity, reliably available at high speeds, was vital to be competitive and a matter of long-term economic viability. One of the things that EPB announced earlier this year was the Chattanooga Smart Community Collaborative, a $110 million federally funded research project that was put in place, in part, because of the very unique infrastructure that’s been created there in Chattanooga. Talk a little bit about that particular project and how the infrastructure has played a role in your success.
Joey Greer:
We’ll talk a little bit about that avenue and how the infrastructure’s played into our success. I’ll reference a study that’s recently been updated. A gentleman by the name of Dr. Bento Lobo at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga worked in conjunction with the local community and EPB to produce a study that presented some good numbers on economic development and job growth back from 2011 to 2015. Getting that status of what the fiber infrastructure brought to the community then and has actually just been updated. Because of what the fiber infrastructure has brought, it’s really helped the overall economic ecosystem here in Chattanooga. One factor is the startup scene and entrepreneurial aspect here. We’ve seen businesses choose Chattanooga as a place to locate and do business because of the infrastructure that we have.
Joey Greer:
One of those neat avenues is a story that I like to tell from a group called the International Maritime Security Associates. You think maritime and Chattanooga, it’s kind of funny because we’re pretty much landlocked minus the Tennessee River. So, these guys are from South Florida and what they do is that they provide real-time data to ships and shipping organizations all over the world for different issues that are going on in different ports, for issues that are going on at sea, weather, a wide variety of different data points they’re taking in and compiling their information and sending it out in real-time. And so their CEO Corey Ranslem, in this study that I talked about, he says, “The cost of this type of connection in South Florida or almost anywhere in the world would be prohibitive for a company of our size.” (They’re growing, they’re about 80 employees now.) “That’s the main reason why we have the data side of the company located here in Chattanooga is the type of infrastructure.”
Joey Greer:
It’s helping them save millions of dollars in operational costs as they get funding and work to ramp up. And he said, “The cost and the price of that and the way of living here in Chattanooga really made it a really easy decision for them when they first moved here.” On top of that, another avenue that our mayor talks a lot about. He says, “People are coming to our city knowing we have this network as a benefit, plus the outdoors, the quality way of life the city has to offer, plus the high-speed broadband is what really has brought this tech scene, this entrepreneurial scene together and plus the infrastructure has helped boost real estate and development here.”
Joey Greer:
And so to summarize, taking it back to this study that I talked about – the study was recently updated and now encompasses 2011 all the way to today. It now is estimated that fiber broadband has brought in an excess of $1.4 billion in business investments, startups, real estate development taxes and with an aspect of COVID, it’s both created and saved a total of 9,500 jobs. Just interesting avenues and that’s kind of helped play along with those different collaborations that you mentioned a few moments ago with bringing other investment, bringing dollars here to spend, and develop different technologies here in Chattanooga. It kind of helps play on all those factors, is really what the broadband and what the infrastructure has done is really create this path of economic development here in Chattanooga.
Craig Corbin:
The numbers you just mentioned were staggering. When you talk about $1.4 billion in economic development for any area, that is huge. And when you talk about how you have had success with regard to the infrastructure and how that played a role. Another big part of the success over the years must stem directly from the service mentality that comes from being a member-owned utility and that those you serve as customers are also members. Talk about customer satisfaction in the EPB story.
Joey Greer:
I’d say building a relationship with our customers, knowing that we are their neighbors, knowing that we do business with them every day, just having that service-minded mindset to really provide an exceptional experience and really take care of them when needs need to be met is really what we really base our product off of. Nowadays, there are some more competitive products in the market, but what we really pride ourselves is that local live customer support. Where we’re going to be on the ground taking care of our customers, just quickly and effectively, with an empathetic voice, trying to meet them where they’re at, problem-solving with them to fix their needs, is really what our business stands upon – to really take care of customers.
Joey Greer:
I’ve seen us in different situations – from going out for an elderly individual’s home and replacing the remotes in the battery, all the way to, hey, we got word that a company’s moving up from another city and they need service tomorrow so we roll out crews and work through the night to make sure we can accommodate them so that way they can provide jobs and economic growth here in Chattanooga. That service mindset really is a top-down approach and is really special here at EPB. It’s one of the ways we stand out in that regard, because in the ISP space a lot of times, customer service is a bad word. We pride ourselves in really working to try to make it a good word and to get a warm feeling when you call with an issue.
Craig Corbin:
With regard to the pandemic, EPB was heavily involved in making sure that Wi-Fi hotspots were set up all across the community – I think more than two dozen hotspots were set up so that students, teachers could instantly take advantage of the distance learning that was required. What’s been your perspective of how EPB played a role in that?
Joey Greer:
When the pandemic first hit, we really worked to ramp up the different aspects of where people could get access to good, reliable Wi-Fi in the community. That’s actually been a great step forward. Then spearheaded through some foundations and through local government and the Department of Education here in Chattanooga who all really came together and said, “Hey, how can we leverage the infrastructure that you guys have to help serve students on free and reduced launch and provide them good, reliable internet?” Because we realize that were still 26,000 school-aged children that didn’t have adequate resources to receive high-speed internet just to be able to do their schoolwork.
Joey Greer:
Through a collaboration with the foundations here in Chattanooga, as I mentioned, the Department of Education, local governments, and a partnership with us, there’s a program now in place that’s funded for 10 years to help provide those 26,000 students with broadband. From starting off with just providing community Wi-Fi hotspots to now providing service to homes for individuals is really been a neat avenue to watch and be a part of in the community of taking a step forward in that aspect.
Craig Corbin:
Let’s talk about broadband being, in essence, the fourth utility. Many now consider it to be probably the second most important utility right behind electricity, as it is no longer a luxury but essential for day-to-day existence. You can’t even apply for a job without internet access in most cases. What does EPB think about that?
Joey Greer:
We definitely agree that the internet is that additional utility. It’s one of the reasons why we got into the business originally is we saw our community as being underserved. Really having broadband is that next aspect of utility that helps provide that next level of economic development for communities. Like I mentioned earlier, underserved or rural areas not being able to compete and thrive because they can’t get the broadband access necessary for someone to run a business from home. Having that infrastructure is going to help further that development and it is creating an additional industrial revolution, you might say. We’re moving to where you can see energy and the internet age really come together and form that next industrial revolution. We see broadband as an essential utility in that aspect.
Craig Corbin:
To that point, would you agree with the mindset that perhaps utilities are uniquely positioned to assist in that process? In that, they, in most cases will have existing service on the power side of the equation in place all across the service footprint and therefore you don’t have any areas that wouldn’t be all ready to be served with regard to knowing where your customers are going to be. And then you factor in what you referred to earlier with the mindset of service to community, in direct contrast to where many legacy providers over the years have developed a reputation of not being as concerned with the community.
Joey Greer:
I think knowing where your customers are at – not referring to them as ratepayers but as your customers – knowing where they’re at, knowing how to serve them, where their lines are and how to get access to them is key and also have the infrastructure in place. When you merge those two together with knowing who your customers are, knowing who their family members are, working in the community, providing this great service, it just goes hand to hand. It really is a perfect fit in that regard and can add a lot of value to your customers and to the service that you can provide to your members, depending on the different models that you’re in.
Craig Corbin:
What EPB did last year, tripling the most popular internet speed with no additional cost, is a great example of the right mindset to the community. So how does EPB balance the benefits to the community with the bottom line?
Joey Greer:
We try to be the value-added provider in our area. Always trying to add value, always trying to make sure that we’re providing the most speed in that regard. As you know, the internet’s based on a lot of usages. We’re paying the transport costs for usage and our usage for different avenues. To really give that aspect to give customers that extra, oh man, I’ve got this bandwidth. It really doesn’t change the usage in that regard. We have balance and a good value product to provide at good price points, not affecting our bottom line really at all and giving the customer that value that they want and need to serve and the capacity they can to serve their devices in their home.
Craig Corbin:
As you work with municipalities all over the country, the co-ops that are looking to get into the world of broadband, how do you feel we’re positioned to address handling the digital divide, getting connectivity everywhere in the years ahead? What’s your thought on that?
Joey Greer:
We’re positioned in a really unique way. I know that it became a really big topic of conversation in this last election cycle. There’s going to be some good funding coming down the pipeline for broadband. We see that obviously right now with RDOF. We can envision some more funding coming down in the future as well and helping further increase the speed in building networks with that funding. One of the biggest avenues that we were able to accomplish is we got some funding from the Department of Energy and it decreased our build time from 10 years down to two years. To take advantage of that funding that’s going to come down to get these technologies out there, not in a matter of 10 years, but in the next couple years is going to make our country continue to have its competitive advantage.
Joey Greer:
One of the great things that America is known for is its entrepreneurial spirit. To further how we can communicate and do business and educate, there’s a lot of excitement in the world of broadband and you really start seeing, especially I think in the co-op space, this new excitement in the general managers and the CEOs’ faces of, oh man, we’ve got this great new challenge that we can go and accomplish. This great new business we’re going to go into. We know the demand is there and now the funding is here, so we don’t have to put ourselves at risk in a big way to go and do it. It’s just that there’s so much excitement and so much energy in this space. It’s really a great time to be involved in this business, for sure.
Craig Corbin:
It’s a golden opportunity with regard to the funding that you mentioned, the $20.4 billion through RDOF, a couple of bills for consideration that could quadruple that number potentially with regard to additional funding in the years to come. Regardless of that, EPB has always been an innovator, always been a leader, and will continue to do so. I know that it has to be both personally and professionally rewarding to be a part of an organization that has that kind of tradition. Being at the forefront of what’s going to happen in this industry. From your perspective, as we begin to wind down our visit today, what do you see in the next five, 10 years for EPB?
Joey Greer:
You’ll see some faster speeds, obviously. We were the first one to be Gig City and now 10 Gig City. It’ll be neat to see the iterations of what’s going to come in the future. On the service and support side, I think you’re going to see us really do some neat things to be a better support to all the devices that are connected inside the home and really provide a great customer experience inside the home. Internet just doesn’t reside on the outside of the home now, it goes all the way in and all the way in the devices and it needs to be supported that way. It’s just continuing to innovate on speed, continue to innovate on service, continuing to innovate in how we help support other utilities. I think the sky’s the limit in that regard and I think there’s will be some neat things that happen in that aspect as well as I would say, some of the neat ideas that are being developed here in Chattanooga just in the economic and entrepreneurial ecosystem.
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