FTTH Council Petitions FCC to Enact Gigabit Program

WASHINGTON, July 23, 2013 — The Fiber to the Home Council Americas will propose a Gigabit Communities Race to the Top program to the Federal Communications Commission on Tuesday to complement the commission’s recent decision to modernize the E-Rate program.

The purpose of the proposal is to spur the development of ultra-high speed broadband networks across the United States. Under this program, communities would compete for matching grants of up to $10 million to establish gigabit networks to benefit community anchor institutions and the surrounding area through collaboration among the institutions themselves, local governments, and service providers.

The proposal is based on President Barack Obama’s Race to the Top education grant initiative, which was introduced in 2009. The program used a point system based on education policies to allocate grants among the states.

The FTTH Council Americas is a non-profit association of companies providing service over direct fiber optic connections, as well as companies that plan and build such networks. The council works to accelerate the deployment of fiber networks throughout the country.