NEWS RELEASE – HUNTSVILLE UTILITIES
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 23 – 8:30 AM
HUNTSVILLE UTILITIES’ ELECTRIC BOARD APPROVES DARK FIBER LEASE RATES AND AGREEMENTS WITH GOOGLE FIBER
This morning, at the regular February meeting of the Huntsville Utilities Electric Board, the board voted unanimously (3-0) to adopt a uniform lease rate schedule for commercial access to dark fiber on the fiber optic system Huntsville Utilities is building for its’ own use. Subsequently, the board also approved a series of agreements with Google Fiber, including a 20-year lease. Google Fiber will use the Huntsville Utilities network to serve residential and small business customers in Huntsville and, eventually, the surrounding area.
With rates approved and agreements in place, Huntsville Utilities will now enter the design phase of the network, which is expected to take five to six months. Construction of the network will begin when design is complete. Huntsville Utilities projects the network to be available for Google Fiber to serve their first customers in the area by Summer 2017, with an estimated network completion of 3.5 years.
While Huntsville Utilities will own the fiber network, Huntsville Utilities will not be providing any internet services. The network is being built to improve the communication capabilities of the water, electric, and natural gas systems, which will improve the operational efficiency of each system and provide better service to customers. Any questions about Google Fiber services should be directed to the Google Fiber website (https://fiber.google.com/cities/huntsville/).
Huntsville Utilities is a publicly-owned, not-for-profit utility company providing electric service to over 180,000 customers, water service to over 93,000 customers, and natural gas service to over 51,000 customers in Huntsville and Madison County, Alabama.
