CenturyLink announced that it will be the exclusive broadband provider to up to 12,000 homes in a new development in southern Denver. CenturyLink will offer its services – including a wireless access point and the opportunity to add its Prism TV offering – to residents at the development starting at $85 per month.
CenturyLink will run up to 1 Gbps services over Lumiere Fiber’s network at the development. Lumiere Fiber is an affiliate of Sterling Ranch Development Company, the company behind the massive development.
As the exclusive provider of fiber services, CenturyLink appears to have beaten Comcast and others to supply services in the 3,400-acre, master-planned community dubbed Sterling Ranch.
“Sterling Ranch’s vision to elevate their infrastructure to give residents forward-thinking digital experiences like eHealth, distance learning, community engagement and smart home control presents a unique opportunity for CenturyLink to deliver an exceptional broadband service offering speeds up to 1 gigabit per second to an entire community,” said Chris Denzin, vice president of national field and partner sales for CenturyLink, in a release.
Indeed, according to a lengthy article in the Denver Business Journal, the Sterling Ranch development is working to develop a cutting-edge, internet-connected community. For example, the developers hired IBM to develop the fiber optic network girding the area, which will be built out over the next 20 years. And Siemens Industry Building Services, a division of the German industrial giant, is developing home automation products and other offerings that will make use of the network for residents.
As the Denver Business Journal pointed out, Sterling Ranch developers are hoping to use Siemens and other technology companies to build a range of advanced systems that can, for example, track residents’ energy usage in an effort to make homes more energy efficient.
CenturyLink acquired Qwest in 2011 in part to give the company inroads into the Denver market. CenturyLink is the second-largest wireline broadband telco provider in the country, after AT&T, with fully 5.9 million broadband customers. However, in the second quarter the company lost 65,000 broadband customers.
While CenturyLink continues to invest in super-fast fiber connections, like those in Sterling Ranch, the company is also working to improve its offerings over copper, at least over short distances. For example, CenturyLink, along with Windstream and others, has been trialing G.fast technology in multi-dwelling units.
For more:
- see this release
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