Talk about good timing. The Fiber to the Home Council is putting on a two-day conference in Raleigh starting Tuesday. And it comes just hours after AT&T became the first provider saying it is offering service in Raleigh.
Google Fiber news could loom, too.
Meanwhile, Frontier continues its fiber rollout in Durham. And the North Carolina’ Research and Education Network, built by MCNC, continues to add partners as well as users across the state.
For people wanting faster Internet, a new era is dawning,
AT&T broke news early Monday about bringing its GigaPower service to Raleigh, Cary, Chapel Hill, Carrboro and Winston-Salem as it begins building out the North Carolina Next Generation Network. Durham will be added later.
At the fiber conference (titled “From Gigabit Envy to Gigabit Deployed” on Tuesday, a Google exec is scheduled as opening keynote.
Jill Szuchmacher is director of Business Development for Google Fiber. And Google has made clear the Triangle is a possible deployment site, having already worked with city officials to secure rights-of-way.
Google is expected to make next round of deployment choices public sometime this month. Google Fiber projects are already underway in Austin, Texas; Kansas City and Provo, Utah.
Gail Roper, chief information officer for the City of Raleigh, is also one of the conference keynote speakers.
The City of Wilson, which built its own gigabit Internet network, will be featured at the conference as well.
The Fiber to the Home Council is an industry organization based in Washington, D.C.
The organization recently released a report that documented the economic benefits gigabit Internet networks can deliver. And FTTH wants to drive home that message at the conference.
The full conference agenda is available online.
