Economic Development

How Will ultraMontgomery Benefit Montgomery County’s Economic Climate?

• Secure and reliable ultra broadband networks and data centers are vital to attract and grow knowledge-based and managed services, businesses, and jobs.
• Innovation requires a focus not just on the Internet of today, but also the Internet of tomorrow. Not just 100 megabit broadband for today, but 100 gigabit broadband for the more broadband-dependent applications of tomorrow. Statics are not widely available because gigabit, much less 100 gigabit broadband, is not widely available at affordable prices.
• However, the research about the impact of broadband on economic development is beginning to emerge:
  • For example, locally, in the life sciences sector, Montgomery County’s Department of Economic Development (DED) estimates that for every 100 jobs created, an additional $30 million dollars is generated into our local economy.
  • A recent White House broadband paper cited studies stating that broadband Internet accounted for $28 billion in U.S. Gross Domestic Product in 2006 and the internet applications economy grew from nothing in 2007 to $20 billion in revenue in 2011.
  • After building gigabit broadband, Chattanooga, TN (Pop. 171,000) drew $50 million in investable capital.
  • The Brookings Institute reports that Advanced Industries, the nation’s “tech” sector, created almost 1 million jobs, or 18 percent of the nation’s total job growth, between 2010 and 2013.
  • Strategic Networks Group collected research from 10 states and reported that 31 percent of new jobs can be “directly attributed to broadband and the use of e-solutions.”