Comcast has announced that it will launch its multigigabit broadband service to nearly 200,000 consumers from Chattanooga, Tenn., this June. The company aims to expand local availability in the near future.
Things were different back in April 2008, when Comcast attempted to prevent the city from building its own fiber-optic web service. Comcast sued Chattanooga Electric Power Board (EPB) but lost, and the EPB launched its service in 2009. Now Comcast is trying to win back the hearts of consumers amid healthier service competition. EPB is currently offering an affordable $70 a month gigabit service, and Comcast will be offering 2 Gbps fiber-to-home service.
As of writing, Comcast has not yet advertised any pricing, which will depend on the level of competition in each city. Comcast has already pledged to roll out its innovative product Gigabit Pro, which assures speeds of up to 2 Gbps, to portions of California, as well as Atlanta, Miami, and the Fort Lauderdale and West Palm areas of Florida.
"Gigabit Pro will be the fastest Internet available to residential customers in Chattanooga," said Comcast SVP Doug Guthrie in a statement. "This important milestone follows years' worth of investments we've made to consistently deliver the fastest in-home and Wi-Fi speeds to the most homes and businesses in our markets."
The company has doubled the capacity of its network at least every 18 months and has increased speeds for its subscribers 15 times in the past 13 years.
At present, Comcast has constructed more than 145,000 route miles of fiber over its service area to deliver home solutions for residential communities. Comcast features fiber at the center of its network and, for the past 10 years, it has been extending it broader into communities, getting closer to households.
The announcement follows Comcast abandoning its bid to acquire Time Warner Cable after regulators signaled they would not approve the deal.
EPB tried to spread its lightning-fast Internet service into neighboring regions, but state law ruled that it could only deliver broadband service within its electrical service territory. EPB filed a petition with the Federal Communications Commission for consent to expand outside its network. It received the license last February.
The state of Tennessee filed a case against FCC because of the approval, stating that "the FCC has unlawfully inserted itself between the state of Tennessee and the state's own political subdivisions."
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