Editor’s note: Google Fiber is coming to the Triangle as announced Tuesday, joining networks already being built by AT&T and Frontier Communications. And Joe Freddoso, the CEO who oversaw the building of North Carolina’s first statewide fiber network (NCREN), hails the news. He says a “tectonic shift in broadband access.” Freddoso is now chief operating officer of Mighty River, LLC, a broadband consulting firm in Wake Forest.

WAKE FOREST, N.C. – The Google Fiber news is now official. The Triangle is about to undergo a tectonic shift in broadband access. It’s truly a massive shift in thinking about entertainment, education, healthcare and communication. It creates a boundless palette for building community and incubating new ideas. It’s Gig City and the Triangle is about to be one of the first cities in the United States to experience the wonder.

Thanks to the strategy of a group of core leaders led by municipal and university Chief Information Officers, the Triangle is in a position to lead and shape the future of a connected world. These leaders risked creating the possible rather than thinking about it. Hats off to Tracy Futhey, Elise Kohn, Marc Hoit, Gail Roper, Chris Keilt, Bill Stice and other friends who understood our region’s opportunity and potential to lead.

Google Fiber reaction:

  • AT&T welcomes the competition
  • Frontier already digging in

What does it mean? The move to Gig City means a lot of things from a practical perspective and even more from a dreamer’s point of view.

“Unprecedented level of competition”

Practically it means an unprecedented level of competition will be introduced into the market. Companies will be competing for your broadband dollar. Special offers will pop up. Look to the wireless space where 5 or 6 competitors go after your dollar with specials and incentives. The same will happen in the wired space as companies differentiate and attempt to compete for your dollar. It’s a wonderful place to be for a consumer.

It also means that there is a potential to leave “no neighborhood behind”. Deployment will be based on demand, where a neighborhood can demonstrate interest and the price compression that comes with competition will allow neighborhoods typically left out of the “demographic lottery” to make their case for access and investment.

Benefits are many

For the dreamer, think about someone who has been told that rationing is the only way to go. You should ration your ability to communicate with others, ration your ability to be educated, ration your access to healthcare, ration your entertainment library all because you lack the capacity to access these “nice to haves”. Well, here in Gig City rationing is a thing of the past. You can think and do big…

  • Video conference with your work colleagues in Singapore or South Korea from home with high definition sharing so its like you are there
  • Edit a video montage with your study group for your senior project
  • Consult with specialists and send your radiological images at the same time so you can get several opinions on your nasty cough
  • No buffering in the new season of House of Cards even if everyone else in the house is on the net
  • Start a specialty coding business where you look at and enhance live code from clients around the globe
  • Access a live MOOC and interact with the professor and provide her feedback in real time
  • Insert your own dreamer in the comments!!! Help others create.

The Triangle moves from scarcity to abundance. From rationing to unlimited supply. If it happens on-line you have no limits.

Welcome to the new day of broadband in the Triangle, Welcome to Gig City!