Comcast Business dedicates $1.2M to extend fiber, Ethernet to Bellevue, Wash. office parks

Comcast Business (NASDAQ: CMCSA) is investing over $1.2 million to extend its network into two large parts of Bellevue, Wash., to pass an additional 425 local businesses.

This expansion will enable the service provider, which has a 100 Gbps backbone and a local footprint through Ethernet over HFC, to target a host of businesses in the fitness, healthcare, manufacturing, retail and other industries.

Upon completion, Comcast Business will be able to provide businesses located in four office parks with its suite of Ethernet and IP-based voice services: 520 Business Park, Evergreen Center, Bell East Office Park and Northup Park.

"We worked closely with city officials and then determined the expansion plan, which resulted in the largest investment of its kind in the area," said Matt Fassnacht, vice president of Comcast Business for the Washington Region.

Similar to other network expansions that Comcast Business has made over the past year, including its recent move into the Huntsville, Ala., market, these expansions make cities like Bellevue a more attractive spot for businesses to locate their facilities.

In addition to Bellevue and Huntsville, Comcast Business has made similar expansions into Minnesota's Twin City area to extend services to 700 additional business customers as well as Meyers Business Park in Chico, Calif., the East Bay region of California, Denver and New London County, Conn.

Comcast Business' aggressive buildout into markets like Bellevue has enabled the cable MSO to become one of the cable segment's fastest-growing Ethernet providers.

Following Time Warner Cable, Comcast Business currently holds a second-place spot on Vertical Systems Group's cable Ethernet Leaderboard.

Rosemary Cochran, principal of Vertical Systems Group, said that the cable segment is the fastest growing element of the Ethernet market.

"Comcast is really committed to Ethernet and have made a lot of gains with their footprint, pricing, and the marketing side," Cochran said. "It is the flagship of the business portfolio."

For more:
- see the release

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