{"id":590,"date":"2026-01-12T02:06:17","date_gmt":"2026-01-12T02:06:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.utc.edu\/crer\/?p=590"},"modified":"2026-01-14T02:13:33","modified_gmt":"2026-01-14T02:13:33","slug":"1-12-26-a-return-on-gig-city-investment-for-the-chattanooga-area","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.utc.edu\/crer\/2026\/01\/12\/1-12-26-a-return-on-gig-city-investment-for-the-chattanooga-area\/","title":{"rendered":"1\/12\/26: A Return On Gig City Investment For The Chattanooga Area"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignleft size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.utc.edu\/app\/uploads\/sites\/152\/2025\/12\/103859029_bento_lobo_presentation_112125_t800.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-552\" style=\"aspect-ratio:1.5009471120598936;width:416px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.utc.edu\/app\/uploads\/sites\/152\/2025\/12\/103859029_bento_lobo_presentation_112125_t800.jpg 800w, https:\/\/blog.utc.edu\/app\/uploads\/sites\/152\/2025\/12\/103859029_bento_lobo_presentation_112125_t800-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/blog.utc.edu\/app\/uploads\/sites\/152\/2025\/12\/103859029_bento_lobo_presentation_112125_t800-580x386.jpg 580w, https:\/\/blog.utc.edu\/app\/uploads\/sites\/152\/2025\/12\/103859029_bento_lobo_presentation_112125_t800-610x406.jpg 610w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.utc.edu\/gary-w-rollins-college-of-business\/crer\/people#BentoLoboResearchScholar\">CRER research scholar Bento Lobo<\/a> recently appeared on WUTC&#8217;s Scenic Roots to speak about his research on the<a href=\"https:\/\/blog.utc.edu\/crer\/2025\/12\/12\/12-12-25-new-crer-white-paper-on-the-benefits-of-high-speed-broadband\/\"> benefits of broadband<\/a> investment in Chattanooga. Among his findings are that &#8220;Since EPB launched its fiber optic network and automated electric grid here in Chattanooga in 2010, those investments have generated 5.3 billion dollars of economic gains for this region.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.wutc.org\/show\/scenic-roots\/2026-01-12\/a-return-on-gig-city-investment-for-the-chattanooga-area\">Listen to the interview here.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>CRER research scholar Bento Lobo recently appeared on WUTC&#8217;s Scenic Roots to speak about his research on the benefits of broadband investment in Chattanooga. Among his findings are that &#8220;Since EPB launched its fiber optic network and automated electric grid here in Chattanooga in 2010, those investments have generated 5.3 billion dollars of economic gains&hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"more-link-wrap\"><span><a class=\"more-link button text\" href=\"https:\/\/blog.utc.edu\/crer\/2026\/01\/12\/1-12-26-a-return-on-gig-city-investment-for-the-chattanooga-area\/\"><span>Continue Reading <\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2009,"featured_media":437,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-590","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-media","8":"category-research","9":"entry"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>1\/12\/26: A Return On Gig City Investment For The Chattanooga Area - Center for Regional Economic Research<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blog.utc.edu\/crer\/2026\/01\/12\/1-12-26-a-return-on-gig-city-investment-for-the-chattanooga-area\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"1\/12\/26: A Return On Gig City Investment For The Chattanooga Area - Center for Regional Economic Research\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"CRER research scholar Bento Lobo recently appeared on WUTC&#8217;s Scenic Roots to speak about his research on the benefits of broadband investment in Chattanooga. Among his findings are that &#8220;Since EPB launched its fiber optic network and automated electric grid here in Chattanooga in 2010, those investments have generated 5.3 billion dollars of economic gains&hellip; Continue Reading\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blog.utc.edu\/crer\/2026\/01\/12\/1-12-26-a-return-on-gig-city-investment-for-the-chattanooga-area\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Center for Regional Economic Research\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-01-12T02:06:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-01-14T02:13:33+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/blog.utc.edu\/app\/uploads\/sites\/152\/2025\/05\/download.webp\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/webp\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Howard Wall\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Howard Wall\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.utc.edu\\\/crer\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/12\\\/1-12-26-a-return-on-gig-city-investment-for-the-chattanooga-area\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.utc.edu\\\/crer\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/12\\\/1-12-26-a-return-on-gig-city-investment-for-the-chattanooga-area\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Howard Wall\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.utc.edu\\\/crer\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ac8ac7d353aec89023a6f279055ecfa7\"},\"headline\":\"1\\\/12\\\/26: A Return On Gig City Investment For The Chattanooga Area\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-01-12T02:06:17+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-01-14T02:13:33+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.utc.edu\\\/crer\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/12\\\/1-12-26-a-return-on-gig-city-investment-for-the-chattanooga-area\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":72,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.utc.edu\\\/crer\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/12\\\/1-12-26-a-return-on-gig-city-investment-for-the-chattanooga-area\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.utc.edu\\\/app\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/152\\\/2025\\\/05\\\/download.webp\",\"articleSection\":[\"Media\",\"White Paper\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.utc.edu\\\/crer\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/12\\\/1-12-26-a-return-on-gig-city-investment-for-the-chattanooga-area\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.utc.edu\\\/crer\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/12\\\/1-12-26-a-return-on-gig-city-investment-for-the-chattanooga-area\\\/\",\"name\":\"1\\\/12\\\/26: A Return On Gig City Investment For The Chattanooga Area - 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