CenturyLink lights 1 Gig service for southern Utah businesses

CenturyLink (NYSE: CTL) is taking on emerging business service competitors like Comcast Business (NASDAQ: CMCSA) by making its symmetrical 1 Gbps fiber-to-the-premises (FTTP) service available to businesses in four areas of southern Utah.

Having this service in hand will enable CenturyLink to battle area CLECs and also cable operators that have mainly focused on serving small to medium businesses (SMBs) with asymmetrical DOCSIS-based solutions. However, Comcast Business is also increasing the availability of their own Gbps-capable fiber service offerings for businesses.

Businesses that reside in St. George, Cedar City, Hurricane and Washington will be able to get access to the new fiber-based service.

Complementing the higher speeds, the new fiber service includes service-level agreements, cloud-based applications, 24/7 customer care and the option for a business to have its IT and communication services managed by CenturyLink. To enable QoS for business customers, CenturyLink has combined the GPON 1 Gbps capabilities with its MPLS backbone.

Jon Pike, mayor of St. George., hailed the arrival of the new service as a way to make his community a more attractive spot to locate a business.

"For southern Utah to attract new businesses and to best serve those already located here, the availability of competitively priced fiber services can be a game changer," Pike said in a release. "Fiber connectivity helps give businesses the ability to use new cloud technologies, create job opportunities and attract capital investment in St. George.

Southern Utah expands CenturyLink's 1 Gbps footprint beyond Salt Lake City and its surrounding communities, where it launched service for business and residential customers in 2014.

Following initial deployment of the 1 Gbps service to residential customers in certain parts of Omaha and Las Vegas and select business customers in Salt Lake City, CenturyLink said it would provide the 1 Gbps service to residential and business customers in 10 cities and business customers in another six cities.

For more:
- see the release

Special report: Gigabit Wars: The best prices for 1 Gbps service from ILECs, MSOs and municipal providers

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