Improved internet service coming to Memphis, mayor says

Jessica Knox
·2 min read
1

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Better, faster, and affordable internet is coming to Memphis, according to Mayor Paul Young. 

Mayor Young says that Memphis has some of the slowest fixed internet speeds compared to any major city in the country.

“Less than 25 percent of Memphians have access to superior fiber broadband,” Mayor Young said.

John Strickland works in the internet industry and uses it daily at home. He says it is essential for everything he does.

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“I believe everyone should have internet, at least access to it. I have it at my house but a lot of people don’t,” Strickland said.

A national broadband map shows Memphis in red the more you zoom in.

CEO of Blue Suede Network, Charles Elliott, promises the new fiber broadband will be accessible, affordable, and adoptable by adding a 34-hundred-mile fiber network.

“The network we are breaking ground on today is being designed to pass through at least 85 percent — 85 percent of all residences and business premises city-wide,” he said. “That’s 100s of millions of dollars invested in every neighborhood regardless of residence income levels.”

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He also says this will help schools, residents, businesses, and public safety.

The new fiber broadband will start in East Memphis in September of this year and then work its way around the entire city.

“It will allow them to do more at the same time like gaming and work. It also gives them the opportunity to work from home, more remote jobs,” Elliott said. “It allows folks from any community to now be able to get telehealth. Right now, because of the way the bandwidth is the internet is very difficult and choppy as you probably know but with the service we provide to clear some of those areas.”

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