Once again we see another city in America getting the fiber optic treatment, at the assistance of a major internet providing company as well. Interestingly enough, we see it in a City that has already seen some talks from Google about providing Google Fiber in the area. Although Google has yet to fully decide if it will be expanding its service to Charlotte, it does seem that AT&T is attempting to try and stake their claim on the city by officially announcing that they will certainly be spreading their fiber optic internet to the area.
Unfortunately few details about either operation have been released, other than the name of AT&T’s name for their new fiber optic broadband: Gigapower. Both companies however have frequently boasted about how powerful their internet is with fiber optics, saying it can reach over 100 times the speed of normal broadband services.
The Mayor of Charlotte has welcomed both systems into the city though, and stated that in the past both companies had made Charlotte a place of focus for international business and banking, and having such fast internet speeds leading into the future could mean Charlotte might become a center for internet based companies, or technology start-ups.
There does seem to be some competition between Google and AT&T though, as this has been yet another announcement by AT&T in the broadband and fiber optic market shortly after google had made a similar announcement for a particular city. First it was Austin, Texas and now we are seeing it with Charlotte, North Carolina. Could we be seeing a fiber optic rivalry in bloom here? Either way, it does seem that the people of Charlotte will win out in the long run with yet more proof that fiber optics is the future for the internet.
Source: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2014/07/30/5075712/att-unveils-plan-to-bring-high.html#.U-UvxhBNE4I
