CRER research fellow Bento Lobo‘s research into the economic impact of EPB’s investments in fiber optics and quantum computing was covered by the Chattanooga Times Free Press. According to the report, which was co-authored by William Plank of EPB, “each (Hamilton) county resident is estimated to have benefited by about $936 per year due to the incremental value generated by the fiber optic infrastructure.”
“My approach, as many of you will know, is always to err on the side of underestimating than overestimating. I’m very conservative with the numbers,” Lobo told the EPB board on Friday. “I think we’ll be over those numbers by the time 2035 comes around, but I’m comfortable presenting them now.”
“It’s been a wildly successful business model,” Lobo told the board. “It’s a bit of a head-scratcher for many of us.”