New Haven, CT

“New Haven needs one gigabit capacity to transport the medical data, financial transactions, and research information that are the currency of New Haven in 2015.…This will be to the undeniable benefit of each city and town and all those who live, work, study, and do business there in those towns—and certainly here in this town.”

“We…shared a vision of Connecticut leading the way with a statewide system for instant communication and ability to transmit staggering amounts of data without breaking stride. Look at us today. Those of us here represent a virtual army of cities and towns anticipating Internet speeds up to 1,000 megabits per second, something close to 100 times faster than what is now the average home speed of Internet services”

As one of the original three cities to spearhead the effort to make Connecticut the first gigabit-Internet state, New Haven has long been at the cutting edge of developing infrastructure for the twenty-first century. In 2014, New Haven and a coalition of forty-five other municipalities, representing over half of Connecticut residents, joined with Comptroller Kevin Lembo, Consumer Counsel Elin Swanson Katz, and others to issue a joint Request for Qualifications on developing high-speed gigabit networks across the state via public-private partnerships.

“That so many Connecticut cities have joined this effort is heartening and confirms for me the pent-up demand for high-capacity digital connectivity in support of commerce, research, and 21st century life in our state,” said Mayor Harp. “I think this demonstrates the potential return on investment for a qualified supplier of next-generation infrastructure to drive economic growth and social progress in Connecticut.”

Mayor Harp testified about the need for ultra-high-speed Internet in New Haven and across Connecticut at a hearing in February 2015. New Haven also hosted a conference on “Moving towards a Gigabit State” in May 2015.

Links: 

http://www.nhregister.com/general-news/20140915/new-haven-leading-charge-for-ultra-high-speed-internet-access-in-connecticut 

http://ct-n.com/ctnplayer.asp?odID=11499

http://gigcommunities.net/join-ctgig-project-advocates-massive-gigabit-project-connecticut

http://www.lightwaveonline.com/articles/2014/09/connecticut-communities-combine-for-gigabit-broadband-rfq.html

http://wtnh.com/2015/01/14/lawmakers-to-meet-for-connecticuts-town-meeting