Comcast to bring 2-Gbps FTTH to California

Comcast says it will bring its 2-Gbps Gigabit Pro service to 12 markets in California. It also announced a new 250-Mbps Internet service in the state as well as data rate upgrades for Performance and Blast customers.

The cable MSO says it will begin to roll out its fiber to the home (FTTH) based symmetrical 2-Gbps services in June to customers in the Chico, Fresno, Marysville/Yuba City, Merced, Modesto, Monterey, Sacramento, Salinas, San Francisco Bay Area, Santa Barbara County, Stockton and Visalia metro areas. In all, nearly 3 million homes in these markets will have access to the service once the roll out completes.

California becomes the second location in which Comcast will offer its Gigabit Pro fiber-optic broadband service. It named Atlanta the first market for the offering earlier this month (see "Comcast one ups Google Fiber, AT&T with 2-Gbps broadband in Atlanta").

Meanwhile, the company also plans to offer the 250-Mbps Extreme 250 service in the state beginning in May. The data rate upgrades to existing services will see the speed of its Performance service rise from 50 Mbps to 75 Mbps and that of its Blast tier from 105 Mbps to 150 Mbps, also beginning in May.

"This is Comcast's 15th speed increase in 13 years. We are proud to boost our existing speeds and most importantly introduce new Internet tiers like the Extreme 250 and Gigabit Pro that will allow our California customers to do more online, across multiple devices," said Hank Fore, regional senior vice president of Comcast Cable's California Region. "We will continue to look for opportunities to increase speeds to not only stay ahead of customer demands, but also to provide a wide range of options that meet customer needs."

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