Columbia and Univ. of Missouri opt out of Gig.U consortium

The city of Columbia, Mo. and the University of Missouri have decided that the Gig.U consortium, a group building broadband networks in research university communities, is not for them.

Columbia and MU announced last July that they were joining 37 other research universities and their respective communities to join Gig.U.

The city invested $6,000 in the first phase of the project, while MU paid $9,000 to participate in a request for information (RFI) with local service providers such as CenturyLink (NYSE: CTL).

Although MU and Columbia decided to not participate in the second part of the program, Blair Levin, executive director of Gig.U, told the Columbia Daily Tribune that over 80 percent of the original members are taking part in the second part of the program.

"We recognize that there is more than one path up the mountain, however, and we greatly respect Columbia's decision," Levin said in an e-mail response.

John Gillispie, executive director of MOREnet, a MU-run statewide network that provides services to local government agencies and schools, said that Columbia's RFI got two responses.

However, he would not reveal whether one of those responses was from CenturyLink. A CenturyLink spokesperson also could not confirm if they were working with the city or not.

For more:
- Columbia Daily Tribune has this article

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