By Blair Levin Today’s announcement that the municipally owned electric utility in Huntsville, Ala. will lease its fiber lines to Google could transform how municipalities provide broadband access. To understand the implications, some background is necessary. Huntsville, like many communities, wants a next-generation network. As its utility was planning a fiber network for its own
Five years ago, 1,100 communities demonstrated their desire for next generation, gigabit-speed broadband by applying for Google Fiber, the company’s ultrafast Internet service. For several years, incumbent Internet service providers dismissed the concept, often saying no one wants that much speed and the cost of such networks did not justify the expense. Yet in the
Before the Department of Agriculture Rural Utilities Service and Department of Commerce National Telecommunications and Information Administration In the Matter of ) ) Broadband Opportunity Council Request for Comment ) Docket No. 1540414365-5365-01 )
On behalf of all who have worked on the Gig.U project, we want to thank everyone in our community for a 2014 that saw tremendous progress toward our common goal of accelerating the deployment of next generation broadband networks. We summarized that progress in our summer report on the Game of Gigs. The progress has
Gig.U congratulates Connecticut for making major strides in their quest for next generation speeds! Today, New Haven, Stamford and West Hartford, CT issued a Request for Qualifications (RFQ), opening up a dialogue with companies and organizations on developing gigabit networks in their cities and around the state. The mayors have three goals: Create a world-leading
Press Release | June 24, 2014 CHAPEL HILL, N.C., June 24, 2014 /PRNewswire/ — Town officials ratified an agreement with AT&T* to bring ultra-fast Internet access to residents and businesses in Chapel Hill. AT&T will provide U-verse® with GigaPowerSM over a fiber network with speeds capable of up to 1 gigabit per second. The agreement stemmed
by Sean Buckley | FierceTelecom | June 20, 2014 AT&T has identified the town of Cary as the next destination in the state of North Carolina where it will bring its 1 Gbps-capable fiber to the home (FTTH) “U-verse with GigaPower” platform. However, details of the new deployment are lacking. The service provider said that
by Lauren K. Ohnesorge | Triangle Business Journal | June 18, 2014 It’s official: Raleigh is getting fiber internet – with or without Google Fiber. The City has ratified an agreement with AT&T to bring in its ultra-fast “GigaPower” service – an extension of AT&T U-Verse. The service operates over a fiber network and has speeds that can reach
by Anne L. Kim | Roll Call | June 10, 2014 To Blair Levin, who oversaw the development of the National Broadband Plan, the debate over net neutrality is both old and will be ongoing — and he sees municipal broadband as the solution in the meantime. But that issue comes with its own set of
by Matt Evans | Triad Business Journal | June 10, 2014 Officials in Winston-Salem have ratified a formal agreement with AT&T meant to speed the telecom company’s deployment of ultrafast broadband connections in the city, according to AT&T. The agreement stems from work by the N.C. Next Generation Network consortium, which took proposals from multiple providers interested in building
