The clouds of competition gather over the skies of six cities in North Carolina as the country's one of the oldest and largest telecommunication service providers, AT&T takes steps forward to deliver gigabit services to its subscribers. AT&T said they have been talking with North Carolina Next Generation Networks (NCNGN) to deploy 1 Gbps broadband over fiber networks in the State.
Google had announced their 1 Gbps fiber broadband in North Carolina, where the Time Warner Cable has a significant presence. North Carolina would be the next broadband battlefield in the United States. The high speed broadband market is waiting for the launch of AT&T's U-verse GigaPower, where the internet giant Google is expanding their networks and cable giant Time Warner Cable have already made their foothold. AT&T would be in direct competition with Google and Time Warner Cables to woo broadband customers in the state. AT&T U-verse is currently available in Raleigh, Chapel Hill, Greensboro, Winston-Salem, Charlotte, Asheville and surrounding areas. North Carolina is home to the telecommunication companies such as CenturyLink, Verizon, Birch, Carolina Digital Phone Cavalier, Deltacom, Windstream, Time Warner Cable, Charter, ATMC, TDS Telecom, Matrix, North State Communications.
In North Carolina, AT&T plans to offer its U-verse GigaPower fiber optic broadband services in Carrboro, Cary, Chapel Hill, Durham, Raleigh and Winston-Salem. Apart from connecting subscribers who join for U-verse GigaPower, the telecom service provider intends to provide free broadband services to around 3000 houses that the company identifies as under-served homes. The speed of free broadband services will be up to 3 Mbps. This indicates the social commitment of the communication giant.
AT&T target initially to connect 100 businesses and 100 public sites. Work will be started after getting necessary right of way and approvals. Broadband speeds of up to 1 Gbps would be an exciting experience for subscribers. Google offers its one Giga service at a monthly charge of US$70 and a construction fee of US$30.
NCNGN is a regional initiative focusing on the deployment of fiber optic networks in North Carolina. First launch of GigaPower was in Austin. The broadband speeds of that service is 300 Mbps. Subscribers of that service will automatically be upgraded to the 1 gigabit speed as it becomes available. AT&T plans to offer GigaPower in Dallas, the coming summer and have plans for San Antonio.