C Spire, an alternative wireless and business services provider, is the latest service provider to enter the 1 Gbps fiber to the home (FTTH) arena with a focus on serving the Mississippi market.
The FTTH service was announced during a news conference that was attended by state government officials, business executives, mayors and economic development leaders.
Similar to the way Google Fiber (Nasdaq: GOOG) has engaged with the communities it plans to serve, C Spire said it wants to "identify and begin working with the first community to make it a reality as quickly as possible."
To gauge local communities' interest in 1 Gbps FTTH service, C Spire issued what it calls a "Get Fiber First" call to action. This initiative will ask local residents, business owners and municipal leaders throughout Mississippi, to tell it why their town needs, wants and how it will benefit by having a 1 Gbps FTTH service.
C Spire said that it will accept applications from neighborhoods, towns and cities in Mississippi that they say "have a passion for innovation and the desire to make their communities better," adding that the "communities that want it the most, and move quickest, will get it first."
A "Get Fiber First" town hall meeting will be held at 2 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 30 at its Ridgeland, Miss., facility.
Its 1 Gbps FTTH drive for consumers may be new, but the company is not completely starting from scratch.
C Spire already has a network built out that will enable it to deploy FTTH quickly. The service provider has already deployed over 4,000 miles of fiber cable, with another 1,500 miles slated for installation in the next year to support its 4G LTE wireless network and its Business Solutions unit.
For more:
- see the release
Editor's Corner: Has Google Fiber set the pace for 1 Gig FTTH pricing?
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