Communities that want to encourage the creation of...

Communities that want to encourage the creation of faster broadband need to “lower the cost and risk of an upgrade, while also creating an opportunity for more revenues,” said Gig U Executive Director Blair Levin (http://bit.ly/PqpG7q) at a conference on bringing gigabit transmission speeds to communities. That means communities need to reduce capital and operational expenditures, as well as risk for those deploying broadband, while increasing “potential revenues, system benefits and threat of competition,” he said April 11. In terms of competition, Levin cited the response to Google announcing it was building a gigabit network in Austin (CD Apr 10/13 p10). AT&T said it was at least considering doing the same, and Time Warner Cable announced a citywide Wi-Fi project in Austin, he said. The conference where Levin spoke was sponsored by Connecticut Consumer Counsel Elin Swanson Katz and State Broadband Coordinator Bill Vallée.