Ultra-high speed 1 GB Internet service has been starting to capture serious attention from individuals and companies in the United States. So far, it looks like AT&T (T) and Google (GOOG) are most aggressively building out this capability in the largest number of cities from coast-to-coast. This has created a very hungry marketplace that really wants this speed. Now C Spire has joined the race and is bringing this ultra fast service to Mississippi.
Rural Mississippi Becomes the Unlikely Hub of Online Innovation
This ultra fast Internet service is wanted in cities and states all over the country. Customers in the initial cities love the speed. However it is important to realize we are just in the beginning of this major industry-wide build-out and transformation.
This has created an appetite for the service from coast to coast. So far, AT&T is offering this fast Internet service in the most number of cities and has the most number of cities they are building. Google Fiber is next. You would expect another big name company like Verizon (VZ) , CenturyLink (CTL) or Cox to be in the number three position, but not so fast..
The number three spot seems to belong to C Spire in Mississippi. C Spire Wireless is an independent wireless carrier based in the Ridgeland, MS area that offers service to a few southern states.
Then a year ago, they made news by announcing they were going to build out a wire line Internet service to one lucky Mississippi town. They held a contest to choose the first city that would win this ultra fast service. However, when they announced the winner, it was more than one city, it was several within Mississippi.
Now, the first cities are coming online. It seems this first phase is for commercial service in cities like Ridgeland, not for individuals. However, I would expect individuals will come next. I would also imagine the geographic area within each city will likely be small at this early stage, but that it will expand over time as well.
This is C Spire putting their flag in the ground and building from there. That’s exciting since C Spire is a small company. If that’s the case, why can’t other small companies jump into the same space in other cities and states nationwide? If so, this could accelerate the build out.
C Spire says their "Fiber to the Home" customer launch offers Internet speeds 100 times faster than before. It also offers what they call Super HD TV and home phone service which is likely a VoIP service like what customers get from cable television companies. This is exciting for C Spire since they will start to offer all these new revenue-producing areas.
The Far Reaching Benefits of High Speed Internet
This is also exciting for companies and individual customers. They also say it promises to boost home values and prices and that it will attract high tech investment and provide for new and higher paying jobs. That's why every city in the USA wants this service now. These cities in Mississippi now have a substantial edge, the same as other cities like the ones offered by AT&T Gigapower, Google Fiber and a few others.
This is good news for Mississippi since no one thought this would happen there so quickly. If successful, I would imagine we will see other smaller states and markets as the next potential cities to receive this ultra-fast Internet service with a variety of other small and large companies.
We are just at the very early stages of this new Internet revolution, so we will have to wait to see the results. However, the good news is, we won’t have to just judge results from larger cities and states, but also smaller ones. This should be very interesting to keep an eye on. Also it’s important to remember, this ultra fast Internet is just one of many new services that large companies like AT&T, Verizon, Sprint (S) , CenturyLink, Comcast (CMCSA) , Time Warner Cable (TWC) , Cox, Google and small companies like C Spire will be rolling out over the next few years.
The next decade in wireless and telecom should be very interesting and exciting indeed. However, it will undoubtedly look different than what we have grown used to over the last decade.
