News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
Putnam County Mayor Randy Porter said Cumberland Cove area receiving broadband access is a big step towards his goal of county wide coverage. Over 50 percent of the county will have access to high speed Internet by the end of the year.
“I think it is amazing news,” Porter said. “We have been working on this for a long time. Volunteer Electric. Twin Lakes Telephone. Everyone coming together as a team, which we do well in Putnam County.”
Porter said work continues to get high speed coverage to the portion of the county without broadband access. The county constantly looks for broadband grants to help providers extend coverage to rural areas. Porter said with so many students learning from home, reliable Internet is more important than ever.
“We have been supporting Twin Lakes and Spectrum and any other vendors that want to come into Putnam County and look at those grants,” Porter said. “The Tennessee CARES Act grant is what allowed this grant to go through. The state does broadband grants each year.”
Porter said multiple cell phone companies are bringing 5G coverage to the county. Porter said rural areas could use the new cell service to fill gaps in broadband coverage.
“Out in the rural parts is the latter that is going to get it (broadband),” Porter said. “We also have 5G coming. I think that is going to provide high speed Internet for a lot of areas that might not be able to other wise. When you put all that together, I think we have a good portion of the county covered.”
Porter said the county has been trying to work with Frontier to expand services, but the company is currently bankrupt. Some areas in Putnam County can only receive Internet from Frontier.
