Chattanooga's municipal FTTH network is near completion

After overcoming political wrangling with the city's incumbent service providers to build its Fiber to the Home network, the joint Chattanooga, Tenn. Electric Power Board (EPB) network will be completed by the end of this year. 

Earlier this fall, EPB caught the attention of the launched a 1 Gbps service for the power user that doesn't have a problem paying $350 for the service. Users also have the option of buying a lower-priced 30 Mbps and 50 Mbps symmetrical service with various triple play bundled options.

As reported in The Chattanoogan, a $112 million federal grant enabled the EPB to complete the FTTH network in three versus the 10  years it initially forecast.

Competing against the likes of AT&T (NYSE: T) and Comcast (Nasdaq: CMCSA), EPB said it would have over 20,000 residential and 2,500 business customers by the end of the year.

Since the FTTH network is being built by a local utility, EPB is leveraging the network for its smart grid initiative. By installing 1,500 large switches in its utility network, EPB said it will be able to not only better pinpoint power outages, but also eliminate the need for manual meter reading.

For more:
- The Chattanoogan has this article

Related articles:
Chattanooga choo choo? City-owned utility set to offer 1 gig broadband
AT&T brings U-Verse to Chattanooga market
LUS Fiber extends 100 Mbps service to residential customers