. >> today chattanooga city is known as the gig city that's because in 2008 then mayor ron littlefield offered superhigh speed internet through its own power utility. to do it he had to battle with telecommunications giants. >> and when you're dealing with those giants, with the cok cast and the at&ts they are reluctantly to give up the market that they have. >> littlefield and city officials worked with their power utility, electric power board or epb, the hope was to protect entrepreneurs and other businesses for the business that was available. needless to say, the internet providers were not happy. >> they master planned 52 my office, asked why chattanooga wasn't able to compete with private enterprise. >> epb paid with bonds, a line of credit and a $100 million government stimulus grant. but not before littlefield said he offered to throw telecoms to build out the infrastructure themselves. >> they said no, we can't afford to do that. i said we cannot afford not to do that. >> building 9,000 miles of fiber. meanwhile, comcast sued. saying cities have an unfair advantage over for-p