High fiber choice: EPB attracts 45 percent of homes with telecom services

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More people than ever turn to the Electric Power Board of Chattanooga to connect to the Internet, watch television and get phone and television service.

Today, the city-owned utility in Chattanooga serves about 71,400 homes and businesses, up nearly 13 percent in the last eight months, keeping EPB on track for gaining more than 10,000 customers a year since it started offering fiber-optics services in 2009. Those gains could grow drastically in coming years, given a recent federal ruling that lets EPB expand its footprint, as well as state legislation that could allow the same. And even if EPB can't expand where it operates its telecommunication services, the utility's executives say they expect it to continue to grow. "There's still a huge market out there," said Joe Ferguson, chairman of EPB's board of directors. Best known for its Gigabit-per-second Internet service, EPB counts users of that speed as a small fraction of its customers, only 5,265. Indeed, super-speed Internet isn't what got Stanley Young to make a switch from Comcast, which he used from 2008 until early last year. For him it was ease of mind, helped along by EPB's good customer service.


High fiber choice: EPB attracts 45 percent of homes with telecom services