The Greater Lansing area is a few steps closer to a 1-gigabit per second ultra-high-speed broadband Internet service. What that means and why it’s important is a message
Prima Civitas Foundation (PCF) has been working on to deliver to local municipalities and associations since mid-2011. A group of those organizations have begun working with PCF to pass the message on to the local business community and smooth the transition into ultra-high-speed capabilities in the region.
“We’re going to be working with all of the municipalities involved to bring out best practices to reduce barriers for private providers to bring ultra-high-speed services here,” says Tremaine Phillips of PCF.
Phillips goes on to explain that local service providers, such as
Arialink would like to invest in a new technology called micro-trenching to expand their capacity. As municipalities are often reluctant to allow access for very new technology, regulations and permitting can get in the way.
Phillips says that the hard barriers of municipal processes represent only one type of resistance which PCF and its partners are working to overcome.
“There are soft barriers to this technology too,” he says. “There isn’t enough demand yet because businesses don’t know what ultra-high-speed broadband can do for their business.”
PCF will be working with the Lansing Economic Area Partnership to educate the local business community and highlight Lansing-area businesses that have already employed the technology, such as
Liquid Web and
The Accident Fund.
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