News and other note worthy events
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Forget Google Fiber. For the bargain-basement price of $1,000 per mile, Sarasota County could build one of the fastest broadband systems in the nation.
During the next year, local government officials will construct an ambitious new fiber-optic network — with a capacity nearing that of the Internet backbone that moves data between major cities — to coordinate most of the traffic lights in Sarasota County.
Quincy could become one of the first communities in the country to have a fiber optic network installed throughout the whole city.
The city’s Department of Central Services recommended approval of a pilot program to allow United Kingdom-based i3 America to install 1,300 feet of fiber optic cable in municipal sewer lines along South 46th Street. The proposal now heads to the City Council.
According to a press release issued by the City of Duluth Communication office, there will be three new fiber lines running into Duluth. The new connections should enhance speed and reliability.
The release says over the last several weeks multiple projects relying on federal stimulus dollars have been announced that include Duluth as a hub. City officials say this recent announcement may also help entice Google to build its new test network in the region.
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Rural CSP Frontier Communications plans to spend $40 million to expand broadband in Illinois in 2011. This move is part of Frontier’s goal to provide 85% of its Illinois customers with broadband by 2013.
Frontier recently acquired $8.6 billion in wireline assets from Verizon, and now provides service to 670,000 phone and Internet customers in primarily rural Illinois. The $40 million investment in represents a three-fold increase over Verizon’s investment plan for the region.
WASHINGTON, August 27, 2010 – The United Arab Emirates plans to have a fully fiber network by the end of 2011. The Pyramid Research group is reporting that this new network is expected to provide the nation with a growth of $1.01 billion by 2015.
Hussam Barhoush, a senior analyst at Pyramid Research, said, “Du, the smaller and newer of the UAE’s two operators, initially took the lead with fiber deployment, notes. However, Etisalat has already caught up and surpassed its new rival in terms of fiber rollout: Abu Dhabi, was the first capital in the world to be all fiber, as Etisalat connected the city to the ‘elife’ FTTH network.”
“The next major opportunity for vendors will be LTE, which we expect both Etisalat and Du to deploy within the next three years,” Barhoush added.
Article Continued on BroadbandBreakfast.com…
Google’s foray into VoIP signals the commoditization of voice calls and the probable demise of the public switched telephone network (PSTN). The industry has been on this path for over a decade, but VoIP has made only a modest dent in telephony even with the success of the MSO. Vonage and Skype have their niche following for customers that make frequent international calls. Mobile phones have signaled the decline of the traditional landline, but indoor coverage made it necessary for most people to keep their landline. Femtocells are not seeing enough momentum yet to see a large movement away from the landline.
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“Big city broadband. Rural reality.”
That’s how Socket Telecom is touting the fiber-optic network it’s set to build in central Callaway County and a sliver of eastern Boone County.
This month the US Department of Agriculture awarded Socket a $16.6 million grant and a $7.1 million loan under the federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Within the next 90 days, Socket will use that money to start building a fiber-optic network capable of serving more than 3,000 homes and businesses.
