August 2019

The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket that launched to the International Space Station recently carried a tiny package that could eventually lead to the smartphone you have in your pocket getting cell service from space. If it works, the instrument could be a precursor to a giant constellation of thousands of mini-satellites that function as cell towers circulating all over the globe. The package is the product of a startup called UbiquitiLink, the latest company to propose putting a mega-constellation of satellites into low orbit above Earth.

At one time it looked like the high-speed broadband network built 10 years ago by EPB (formerly the Electric Power Board) in Chattanooga would be an island of gigabit connectivity, as the state of Tennessee had rather restrictive laws about what types of entities could offer broadband and where. But things have changed, as J. Ed Marston, EPB vice president of marketing, explained in an interview about new EPB gigabit partners. The state now allows municipalities and electric cooperatives to offer broadband, Marston noted.