Chattanooga's municipal gigabit service is getting some competition. Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) plans to offer residential multi-gigabit broadband service for up to 200,000 customers in Chattanooga beginning in June, and expects to expand availability locally over the next several months. Gigabit Pro is a symmetrical, 2 Gbps Internet service that will be delivered via fiber-to-the-home (FTTH).
Earlier this month, Comcast announced Gigabit Pro plans for Atlanta, Florida and California, and said it plans to roll out the service to 18 million homes by year-end 2015.
Gigabit speeds are not new to Chattanooga. The city launched one of the first residential gigabit services back in 2010, when the city's Electric Power Board deployed symmetrical 1 Gbps Internet services over an FTTH municipal broadband network throughout the community. More recently, EPB has tried to expand its service area, but was blocked by Tennessee state law. The FCC, at the same time it made its Title II Open Internet ruling in February, voted to pre-empt the state law as a barrier to broadband deployment. Both rulings are being challenged in court.
