A Republican state senator in Tennessee is fed up with AT&T and other private Internet service providers that are trying to stop the spread of municipal broadband.

"We're talking about AT&T," Sen. Todd Gardenhire (R-Chattanooga) said at a rally of business owners, residents, and local officials in the state Capitol, the Chattanooga Times Free Press reported yesterday. "They're the most powerful lobbying organization in this state by far... Don't fall for the argument that this is a free market versus government battle. It is not. AT&T is the villain here, and so are the other people and cable."

The battle over municipal broadband in Chattanooga and surrounding towns is among the most prominent nationwide. Tennessee state law has prevented the Chattanooga electric utility—which also provides broadband—from expanding to adjacent communities that lack fast, cheap Internet access. Chattanooga petitioned the Federal Communications Commission to preempt that state law, and the FCC granted the request, using its authority to promote competition in local markets by removing barriers to infrastructure investment.

AT&T told the FCC that municipal broadband can force private ISPs to "operate at a competitive disadvantage" and that there should be restrictions on public broadband projects to make sure there is a "level playing field."

The State of Tennessee sued the FCC to overturn the commission's decision, and the case is in process. If the FCC prevails in this case and a similar one involving North Carolina, state laws restricting municipal broadband in nearly 20 other states could face challenges as well.

Some lawmakers in Tennessee don't want to wait for the legal process to play out, so they are pushing legislation that would remove the state-level restriction that prevents broadband-providing electric utilities from expanding outside their electric service area. AT&T is lobbying against the bill. While Republican members of Congress are generally in lockstep with AT&T on municipal broadband, AT&T is getting pushback from at least a few members of Tennessee's Republican-controlled legislature.

The bill is sponsored in the Tennessee Senate by Sen. Janice Bowling (R-Tullahoma), and in the House by Rep. Kevin Brooks (R-Cleveland).

"We need broadband and we want it now!" Bowling said in a speech, the Times Free Press reported. "This is about Tennesseans having access to the 21st century," she said, pointing out that many rural areas lack good Internet service.

While some Republican state lawmakers fight for expanded municipal broadband, one of Tennessee's representatives in Congress—US Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.)—has repeatedly fought to protect "states' rights" to restrict muni broadband projects.

Tennessee House Speaker Beth Harwell (R-Nashville) reportedly said earlier this week that the bill probably won't be passed this year. "My preference would be that the private sector take this over," she told reporters, according to the Knoxville News Sentinel. "We'll see if they can come to the plate and offer enough services to our rural areas. If they can, that would be my preference. If they can't, then I do think it becomes necessary for the public to enter."

The bill is "not dead," according to Brooks, who said that it will be heard by a House subcommittee next month. But AT&T will be pushing lawmakers to drop it.

"Taxpayer money should not be used to over-build or compete with the private sector, which has a proven history of funding, building, operating, and upgrading broadband networks," AT&T spokesperson Daniel Hayes told the Times Free Press. "Policies that discourage private-sector investment put at risk the world-class broadband infrastructure American consumers deserve and enjoy today."

AT&T has deployed gigabit fiber Internet in parts of Nashville, Tennessee, but many rural parts of the state are left with slower, unreliable service.

We contacted AT&T this morning about Gardenhire's comments, and the company gave us the same statement it previously provided to the Times Free Press.