Georgia’s rural internet service providers have been forced to scramble to deal with a spike in customer calls and bills as internet service in the rural areas continues to lag behind those in urban areas.
A new study from researchers at Georgia Tech and Georgia Tech’s Georgia Institute of Technology has found that the number of rural internet subscribers in Georgia has increased more than seven-fold in the past year, with the state now having nearly 100 million internet subscribers, up from about 6 million in 2010.
The number of internet users in Georgia increased by nearly 300,000 people between 2011 and 2016.
Georgia Tech said that in 2017 alone, the state experienced a surge in internet subscriber growth of over 50 percent.
The report was published on Tuesday, the same day the state’s Senate voted to ban “unfair business practices” in the internet service industry, which will affect rural internet users.
Georgia Tech has been researching internet access for years, and the university has been instrumental in helping local internet providers and technology companies develop better systems for service delivery and billing.
The Georgia Tech researchers found that rural internet customers were more likely to report that their provider did not follow their local laws, and they were more than twice as likely to pay a higher rate than their urban counterparts.
The researchers also found that broadband providers were far less likely to offer internet service to rural customers than their rural counterparts.
Georgia’s rural broadband provider, TNC, is currently the only provider in Georgia that offers internet service.
It has not announced any plans to expand service beyond its current territory, and TNC said that the new study does not include information about future expansion plans.
While the research by Georgia Tech did not identify specific regions that had experienced a growth in rural internet usage, Georgia Tech said the trend was in the “high-speed” category.
“In many rural areas, such as rural Georgia, rural internet services are relatively slow, and it is difficult to quantify the amount of data and bandwidth available,” the Georgia Tech report said.
“This lack of capacity in the broadband infrastructure also has a negative impact on rural residents’ access to broadband services.”TNC’s internet service is currently available in a limited area of rural Georgia.
The company’s service is available to all Georgia residents, but customers in metro Atlanta and some rural counties are required to use a phone line to access it.
Georgia is the second-fastest-growing state in the country after Texas, and more than 20 percent of the population lives in rural areas.