FCC Official Speaks at Maryland City's Fiber Launch Party

Taking control and becoming directly involved in plans for broadband deployment is "incredibly exciting," said Gigi Sohn, counselor to FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler, during a fiber launch party in Westminster, Maryland, Friday. The city chose to engage in a private-public partnership with Ting, which will provide Westminster with what it calls “crazy fast fiber Internet,” she said. Sohn said she admires how strategic the city and county leaders have been in moving the fiber network forward. The open access model that Westminster has with Ting is an approach that Sohn said will benefit the citizens of the city for years to come. The network will let about 10,000 homes and businesses in the community receive up to a 1 Gbps Internet connection, which puts Westminster up there with U.S. cities Chattanooga, metropolitan Kansas City and Austin and cities around the world like Hong Kong, Seoul and Tokyo, she said. "What is happening today is a great example of local communities and their leaders taking control of their broadband future."