Comcast aims to win Internet speed race

ATLANTA — Protecting Georgia’s Moody Air Force Base from potential cuts may mean focusing on a seemingly unrelated issue — broadband internet.

Broadband access is a frequent complaint from those assigned to Moody and their families, said Valdosta City Manager Larry Hanson. Spotty service affects their quality of life, which is a consideration when the federal government assigns new missions.

Moody is currently being eyed for a drone mission that would bring more than new 400 jobs to the area, he said. It’s one of a handful of bases being considered.

“Can you imagine a deployed airman planning a Facetime, Skype or other internet-based visit with his or her children, only to find there is no service, or the family has exceeded its usage for that month and can’t afford to pay more than the $200 it is paying for a hotspot?” Hanson said Thursday to lawmakers studying gaps in Georgia’s broadband service.

“I know we all agree that we owe those serving our country better than this,” he said.

A survey last year found about 16 percent of Georgia lacks access to broadband internet, which the Federal Communications Commission defines as download speeds of 25 megabits per second.

Those areas with poor connectivity aren’t just in the rural parts of the state, though.

About one-tenth of Valdosta, including neighborhoods close to Moody, lacks access to broadband service. Hanson said military families are “somewhat shocked” when they arrive and discover this.

Beyond the city limits, the landscape is bleaker. About 40 percent of Lowndes County, home to some 113,000 people, lives without adequate service.

Thursday’s meeting was the legislative committee’s last. Sen. Steve Gooch, R-Dahlonega, co-chairman of the group, said lawmakers will now go to work drafting recommendations.

One proposal often at the center of discussions is the elimination of a sales tax on telecommunications network equipment, which would require state and local governments to give up about $68 million in annual revenue.

The proposal is backed by heavy-hitters at the Gold Dome, such as AT&T and the Georgia Chamber of Commerce.

Kevin Curtin, the chief lobbyist for AT&T, said about two-dozen states do not tax the equipment. That means, he said, that a provider’s money can reach more customers in those places, such as North Carolina.

“Therefore, I have more revenue opportunities in North Carolina than I do in Georgia. We don’t want that,” he said. “We want to make Georgia the most attractive place in the country to put broadband.”

It’s unclear whether lawmakers will push for nixing the tax when they return for the legislative session in January.

Hanson also had a few ideas of his own, including a tax credit to prompt more private investment or a state-constructed fiber network in rural communities that providers could tap.

“So often it takes the government to be the one to provide the backbone, so to speak, the infrastructure that’s needed to encourage private development to follow,” he said.

Other ideas have also been floated, such as a state program similar to the one that currently helps communities make themselves attractive, or “camera ready,” for the film industry.

Jill Nolin covers the Georgia Statehouse for CNHI’s newspapers and websites. Reach her at jnolin@cnhi.com.