Comcast Business Services (Nasdaq: CMCSA) on Thursday launched an effort to expand its fiber network in downtown Houston.
When the fiber expansion is completed early next year, it will be able to bring services such as Ethernet and cloud services to over 3,000 small and medium-sized businesses.
This fiber expansion will complement the MSO's earlier effort to bring its cloud-based unified communications (UC) services, including VoiceEdge UC, to the region.
Inside Houston, the service provider's fiber will be routed to various multi-tenant office buildings including Chase Tower, the largest building in the state. Having access to large buildings like Chase means Comcast Business Services will be able to target a large set of potential new customers that are looking for an alternative service provider as they migrate from an existing legacy technology like Frame Relay to Ethernet.
Competition to satisfy the Houston business market for next-gen services has become fierce. Besides incumbent telco AT&T (NYSE: T), Comcast Business will also face Alpheus Communications, a CLEC that has been actively expanding its presence in the Dallas, Austin, San Antonio and Houston (DASH) area.
One thing Comcast Business does have over other competitive carriers is that they own all of their fiber, meaning they can control the speed and experience for their customers versus having to rely on another provider's facilities.
The Houston buildout is part of a broader effort Comcast Business Services, which currently provides Metro Ethernet services in 20 major U.S. markets, is making to expand its fiber footprint and service reach to more potential SMB customers.
Outside of Houston, the MSO has been expanding its fiber network in other major metro markets including Boston and San Mateo, Calif. In Boston, the service provider's fiber build out, including offering 100 Mbps service in the city's Innovation District, helped it win multi-service contracts with both the Boston Red Sox and more recently The Celtics.
For more:
- see the release
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