C Spire’s Google Fiber-like 1-Gig project in Mississippi took a step forward this week with work that three “fiberhoods” in the cities of Horn Lake, Quitman and Starkville were the first to drive enough pre-registrations to qualify for the coming network buildout.
Similar to Google Fiber’s “rally” approach, C Spire has structured its rollout based on consumer demand, with the order of deployment determined by how rapidly residents step up and pay a refundable $10 pre-registration fee and meet or exceed the company’s demand threshold. C Spire has identified six other communities that will get the fiber-fed 1-Gig platform during the first wave of deployment: Batesville, Clinton, Corinth, Hattiesburg, McComb, and Ridgeland. Among that group, Ridgeland is expected to turn its first fiberhood “green” later this week and become the fourth city to qualify for the service, C Spire said.
C Spire intends to start turning up 1 Gig services in its first batch of fiberhoods this summer. C Spire will the 1 Gbps service to existing customers $70 a month as a standalone, $90 a month for the Internet/phone bundle, and $130 a month for broadband and digital TV, and $150 per month for all three services. New C Spire customers will pay an extra $10 per month for each package.
The competitive makeup of C Spire’s 1-Gig markets vary, but its primary rivals in these proposed 1-Gig areas will be AT&T and Comcast.
