Google Fiber Huntsville deal could remake broadband market

Today’s announcement that the municipally owned electric utility in Huntsville, Ala. will lease its fiber lines to Google could transform how municipalities provide broadband access.

To understand the implications, some background is necessary. Huntsville, like many communities, wants a next-generation network. As its utility was planning a fiber network for its own purposes, it decided to allow third parties to lease spare fiber, adopting a dark fiber model. Communities like Champagne/Urbana, Ill., Westminster, Md., and Holly Springs, N.C. have already pioneered similar transactions.

What makes the Huntsville news potentially transformative is that the service provider is Google Fiber.

Blair Levin

Full Story: http://www.brookings.edu/blogs/the-avenue/posts/2016/02/[email protected]&utm_campaign=Metropolitan+Policy+Program&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=26900903&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-_TtKIt_noD5pPmS2JmGgwf-ubfIFpdMQIpskKNra4s0SKeoIyUZDBAHkLwfRAufjcJXlUvHP57V0pgHmg7HUw2tuF8RA&_hsmi=26900903

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