Ting will become the latest service provider to offer broadband speeds in the Triangle area of North Carolina with plans to bring its 1 Gbps FTTH service to Holly Springs, N.C.
Similar to its rollouts in Charlottesville, Va., and Westminster, Md., the service provider will start measuring demand for the service.
Construction of the FTTH network could start as soon as the first half of 2016, according to a post on Holly Spring's website.
"An important first step in the buildout and delivery of Ting Internet service will be gauging where there is greatest interest," Ting said in a blog post.
On its Holly Springs page, Ting will provide updates as it progresses with its network build. It will also offer eligible users the chance to pre-order when the option is available.
North Carolina has become a hotbed of 1 Gbps FTTH activity. Google Fiber (NASDAQ: GOOG) announced earlier this year it would bring its service to seven Triangle-area cities including Raleigh and Cary as well as Garner and Morrisville.
Ting has been given a head start in Holly Springs. The service provider will be able to leverage the town's own fiber network, which was initially built serve its own offices but is now being considered as a way to attract new businesses and industry to the town. For example, an Internet provider said that it said could use the existing fiber network as a "springboard."
Under the agreement with the town, Ting will be given a license to access unused town-owned fiber and build the "last mile" portion of the network to connect area homes and businesses.
The initial 13-mile network was completed in mid-2014 for $1.5 million and has been expanded to about 17 route miles.
While Ting has signed this agreement with Holly Springs, Jeff Wilson, the town's Information Technology director, said that "nothing in the agreement would preclude another Internet provider from also licensing town fiber."
Ting said what made Holly Springs attractive was its proximity to major universities and a number of global businesses that could leverage a high speed fiber network.
"You have tons of kids and your population is growing and getting younger," Ting said in a blog post. "Yet, you are literally surrounded by world-class universities and billions of dollars in research, startups and national and global businesses. So you have world-class opportunities for those kids to be inspired, to participate and to ultimately contribute and succeed. You are just the sort of community that will turn crazy fast Internet into even better education, better business, better jobs and a better future."
For more:
- see this blog post
- see Holly Spring's release
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