CenturyLink has announced an expansion of its gigabit (1 Gbps) fiber optic network.
This expansion will bring availability of the high speed network to an additional 115,000 businesses across five new states: Iowa, Idaho, North Carolina, Ohio and Wisconsin.
Additionally, nine of the 12 states that currently have CenturyLink fiber networks will have their fiber coverage expanded. SMB customers in Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah and Washington may soon be able to sign up for the business class fiber service. The current network expansion makes the service available to almost 500,000 business locations within the U.S.
The access to CenturyLink’s speedy Internet service will not only give businesses gigabit performance, but access to more network-based services. “Fiber-based network services that range up to a gigabit are scarcely available to small and medium size businesses,” said Rosemary Cochran, Principal at Vertical Systems Group. “The ongoing expansion of CenturyLink’s fiber footprint is narrowing the gap for this sizable market.”
CenturyLink uses Fiber-to-the-Premises (FTTP) technology to provide speeds of up to 1 Gbps to businesses located near the company’s fiber network backbone or in fiber-fed multi-tenant unit office buildings. This puts the fiber connection directly into the business instead of connections that only span part of the network path, such as Fiber-to-the-Curb (FTTC).
“Our fiber network forms a powerful foundation for the end-to-end IT solutions CenturyLink created for small and midsized business customers that don’t have the in-house expertise or time to manage technology upgrades,” said Shirish Lal, CenturyLink’s Chief Marketing Officer.
Business customers can head here to learn more about CenturyLink’s fiber-based services and to determine if service is available in their location.
In addition to 1 Gbps service for SMBs, CenturyLink also offers gigabit speeds to residential customers in 11 cities. For more information on residential gigabit service and to find out where these speeds are available, you can head here.
