The City of Seattle has reached an agreement with broadband developer Gigabit Squared for the development and operation of an ultra high-speed fiber-to-the-home/business broadband network. The plan, dubbed Gigabit Seattle, will begin in twelve Seattle neighborhoods as a demonstration, and it will leverage Seattle’s excess giver capacity to encourage business owners, health care and education entities, and public safety institutions to take advantage of and innovate on the fiber network. The project will also include the construction of a gigabit broadband wireless umbrella covering the city of Seattle, transmitting fiber Internet connectivity to houses and offices outside the demonstration area, so long as they are within line of sight.
Gigabit Seattle will have fiber-to-the-home/business networking for more than 50,000 households and businesses across the 12 demo neighborhoods. GIgabit Seattle will be leasing excess fiber capacity directly from the City of Seattle, and that capacity will go toward servicing the University of Washington’s West Campus District, South Lake Union, First Hill/Capitol Hill/Central Area, the University of Washington’s Metropolitan Tract in downtown Seattle, the University of Washington’s Family Housing at Sand Point, Northgate, Volunteer Park Area, Beacon Hill and SODO Light Rail Station, Mount Baker, Columbia City, Othello, and Ranier Beach.
The project will also include the placement of fiber transmitters atop 38 buildings across Seattle for the provision of wireless access to the fiber network. Gigabit Seattle will also provide wireless cloud services across the 12 neighborhoods for customers with mobile access.
The $200 million broadband program was developed in partnership with The University Community Next Generation Innovation Project, and it is the first demonstration of Gigabit Squared’s Gigabit Neighborhood Gateway Program. Gigabit Squared will be looking to carry out similar projects in six selected university communities across the country in the near future.
