State Telecom Activities

摘要

A recent request for proposals from the North Carolina Next Generation Network may help meetnFCC Chairman Julius Genachowski’s Gigabit City Challenge for that state. The network is slated to includensix communities — Carrboro, Carry, Chapel Hill, Durham, Raleigh and Winston-Salem, all ofnwhich approved the network last month — and several universities — the University of North Carolina atnChapel Hill, Duke, North Carolina State and Wake Forest and Baptist Medical Center. The joint partiesnissued a request for proposals (http://xrl.us/bogie2) earlier this month, with responses due April 2, lookingnfor vendors to help create a gigabit fiber network, an open access architectural framework, a “flexiblenmenu of optional retail services,” all while making use of public-private assets and offering high-speed Internet, either wired or wireless, at a “substantial discount from current market prices,” according to thenRFP. “Ultra-fast Internet speeds will spur innovators to develop next-generation apps and services thatndrive economic growth and U.S. competitiveness,” Genachowski said in a statement Monday. He said thenannouncement will "move us forward.” Gig.U Executive Director Blair Levin said earlier this month:n“The NC NGN is the first regional effort to grow out of the Gig.U initiative. ... It builds on lessons learnednfrom Gig.U and other related projects, offering potential providers both access to inputs that help lowerndeployment costs and the scale necessary for economic success.”