Choosing Home

If you grew up in a rural community, did you leave for the big city before finding your way home, or watch friends and family pack up and leave, spurred on by the belief that you had to leave to succeed? For generations, small towns across Tennessee watched many of their brightest young people move to larger cities to pursue higher education and build careers, often leaving local industries struggling to find workers and fill critical positions. Before the broadband era, this pattern contributed to population decline, limited economic growth, and separated families and friends by distance. For those whose career interests extended beyond the opportunities available in their hometowns, leaving often felt like the only path to a better future.

Connectivity changed all that. For the first time, people had access to remote jobs, online education, healthcare and entrepreneurial opportunities. High-speed internet created new opportunities for people to come home, or stay home, without sacrificing their careers or education. Broadband is also opening doors for small businesses and entrepreneurs.

With access to broadband, people can be more selective about where they live, opting for quality of life, rather than moving where they think the opportunities exist.

People are settling down in rural towns throughout Tennessee to build their lives and their businesses because broadband makes it possible to reach customers far beyond their local area.  Reliable connectivity allows entrepreneurs to reach national and global markets through e-commerce, cloud-based services and remote operations which creates jobs and stimulates economic growth in the process.

1 example is Michael Sands, who operates 2 businesses from his home in Westmoreland. Michael cites fiber internet service as a deciding factor in purchasing his house, thanks specifically to NCTC and its fantastic service. Today, he provides both private investigative services and video production work, bringing valuable services to the region that folks would have been hard-pressed to find locally in the past, as well as serving clients outside the region.

At the same time, rural broadband providers themselves have become important community-builders and economic anchors. Across Tennessee, workforce development programs, apprenticeships, and telecommunications training initiatives are helping prepare residents for careers in broadband infrastructure and technology fields. For industry leaders, recruiting and retaining skilled workers is becoming 1 of the sector’s biggest priorities as broadband expansion accelerates.

Broadband’s impact on businesses ripples through the community, helping sustain schools, healthcare access, and local workforces, creating conditions that allow people not only to live in rural communities but to thrive there. Which means that families and friends get to stay connected the old-fashioned way—no wires required, just in-person, face-to-face togetherness.