EPB brings 10-Gbps FTTH to Chattanooga

The City of Chattanooga says that municipal utility EPB will offer a 10-Gbps Internet service on its city-wide fiber to the home (FTTH) network. EPB Fiber Optics will support the FTTH service offering, initially available in a 600 square mile area, through use of TWDM-PON technology from Alcatel-Lucent (Euronext and NYSE: ALU).

EPB will charge $299 per month for the high-speed fiber-optic broadband service. Residents will enjoy free installation, no contracts, and no cancellation fees, the company added.

In addition to the 10-Gbps residential service, EPB also has announced 5-Gbps and 10-Gbps Internet services for small businesses and 3-Gbp, 5-Gbps, and 10-Gbps offerings for larger enterprises. Prices for these services vary, EBP says.

EPB asserts it was the first service provider in the United States to offer 1-Gbps FTTH Internet access, in 2010 (see "EPB Fiber Optics offers 1 Gigabit broadband in Chattanooga via GPON"). A by University of Tennessee at Chattanooga finance professor Bento Lobo states the availability of gigabit services has created at least 2,800 new jobs and at least $865.3 million in economic and social benefits to the community.

The utility also leverages the fiber-optic network for smart grid applications. The same study estimates these smart grid capabilities have enabled EPB customers to avoid 124.7 million minutes of electric service interruptions by automatically re-routing power to prevent an outage or reduce the length of outages.

As its name implies, TWDM-PON combines TDM and WDM technology to support multiple 10-Gbps PON wavelengths over a single fiber; four wavelengths are typical in current systems. Alcatel-Lucent introduced TWDM-PON capabilities in 2014, then upgraded them this year (see "Alcatel-Lucent unveils TWDM-PON" and "Alcatel-Lucent lowers entry cost of TWDM-PON with Universal TWDM").

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