Suddenlink Communications on Thursday launched its gigabit Internet service in Nixa, part of the company’s systemwide $250 million Operation GigaSpeed campaign.
Nixa is among the first five cities where Suddenlink is rolling out the service in its 16-state territory, along with Rocky Mount and Greenville, N.C., and Bryan and College Station, Texas. Officials say that fact points to the the Springfield bedroom community’s desire to be known as a progressive community.
“The city has been very active over the last few years plus in asking for this kind of connectivity and pushing for it and talking to a variety of companies - not just Suddenlink - about it what it would take to get this step and make Nixa a ‘Gig City,’” Suddenlink spokesman Pete Abel said yesterday. “We were already going to be providing the service.
“Given the city’s vocal support and the citizen’s vocal support for seeing this kind of distinctive service, it definitely put Nixa first in our minds when it came to Suddenlink-served markets in Missouri. It was a partnership in terms of dialogue, demand and constant communication about ‘what could we do, when could we do it.’”
Suddenlink’s gigabit business in the city ends discussions Nixa had to buy into a broadband network and operate as an Internet service provider. A $27 million proposal with SiFi Networks went quiet
earlier this year, and Nixa spokeswoman Jill Finney said yesterday the agreement with the London-based company is officially dead.
“It’s out of the picture,” she said, noting what would have cost the city millions of dollars is no longer a factor with Suddenlink providing all the capital for its own gigabit network. “This is a win-win situation for us.”
As a first step, Suddenlink launched 250 megabits per second speeds
in December. Speeds through the service go up to 1 gigabit per second, or 100 times faster than the average broadband service. Abel said Suddenlink charges $100 a month for 1-gigabit residential service, but he declined to provide a price range for businesses, saying they’re evaluated on a case-by-case basis.
Declining to provide the cost to install gigabit service in Nixa, Abel said Suddenlink would spend around $250,000 to wire the city’s industrial park for service. The company is targeting an early fall completion date on installation to the park.
Officials held a news conference at Nixa City Hall yesterday to announce the release of the service with invited guests that included Missouri state senators, city staff, Suddenlink executives and Congressman Billy Long.
“Being a Gig City allows us to attract new businesses and advance technology in Nixa,” Mayor Brian Steele said in a news release. “We pride ourselves on being progressive in business and always seeking to improve quality of life for our citizens, and Suddenlink is helping us do that.”[[In-content Ad]]
