Gigabit Neighborhood Gateway Program

I couldn’t be more thrilled about the culmination of not only Gig.U’s vision, but of Gigabit Squared’s unique approach to broadband initiatives as well. Our team has had a hand in the transformative power of broadband in dozens of communities, including Miami, Cleveland, Chattanooga, Lafayette and Detroit. And the most successful programs invariably always have strong University leadership behind them.

Why are Universities the most appropriate to be at the heart of these initiatives? Universities have been a strong advocate for broadband and bandwidth growth, but unfortunately, until Gig.U came along, communities across the globe were doing a much better job fostering broadband initiatives within their communities than were many communities in the US.

Gig.U realizes that it’s not only the job of our Universities to make sure our workforce is competitive – but that they have the infrastructure and platform to perform, innovate, and compete.

To do this, to make community broadband networks thrive as sustainable entities, requires a new business model. It requires a departure from the typical business model that merely looks at filling current demand and changing focus to what’s needed in the future.

Developing a gigabit network is not about catering to a few outliers using advanced applications now… it’s about serving the mainstream of tomorrow, and thereby leverage what’s next.

The Gigabit Squared business model focuses on making building a gigabit network economically feasible today by aggregating demand.  By bringing the demands of the University, students, businesses, nonprofits, governments  and residents together, we’re able to leverage resources to achieve together what we could not individually.  In short, we’re building public-private partnerships with a Gig.U University working with Gigabit Squared at the center of these initiatives.

And by creating these regional gigabit networks, these robust networks will serve as a platform for innovation, creativity, and competitiveness.  And they’ll do so by enabling those directly served, and by being a model that others can emulate.  Other educational institutions, other communities, and other technology providers.

So today we’re here to announce the Gigabit Neighborhood Gateway Program which makes available $200 million dollars in investment capital for up to 6 projects across the United States, led by Gigabit Squared and a Gig.U University. The RFP is now available to Gig.U members at both gigabitsquared.com and gig-u.org.

It’s the Nation’s first multi-community broadband gigabit deployment, creating networks with speeds from 100 to 1000 times faster than what Americans have today. The Gigabit Neighborhood Gateway Program will offer communities services at a competitive price for innovative projects that range from small neighborhoods of 5,000 to 10,000 and up to 100,000 people.

At the center of the Gigabit Neighborhood Gateway Program is the idea that communities and their local stakeholders can drive economic opportunities through private investments that leverage public capital that will accelerate the deployment and utilization of gigabit speed networks.   And it’s all done without taxpayer money.

The Gigabit Neighborhood Gateway Program will create demonstration projects in Gig.U communities that will serve as a model for maximizing the impacts of regional broadband networks. Each will feature “open” architecture networks to create long-term value and growth for the Gig.U University and community partners.

The Stimulus Funding was a great jumpstart to get broadband initiatives on track in the U.S.  But it is just a starting point. In order to realize true economic revitalization, we’re urging our national and community leaders to think and act in more creative ways. And we’re backing those efforts with significant investment of our own.

The potential within a strand of fiber is technically unlimited.  The potential in our communities is unlimited as well.