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Mayor McGinn wants to bring a Fiber to the Premises network to all of Seattle. This network would provide Internet access and other services at speeds much greater than those offered over existing networks. Seattle City Light completed its study on the benefits of broadband, and Mayor McGinn has asked Seattle Public Utilities to be the lead in developing a business strategy. The Department of Information Technology and Seattle City Light will be part of the team.
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Mayor and UW president announce high-speed fiber broadband partnership
November 15, 2011 - Mayor Mike McGinn and University of Washington President Michael Young today announced a partnership to solicit private proposals to provide high-speed fiber service to communities surrounding the UW campus. For the first time, Seattle will offer to lease access to its unused “dark fiber” to allow private companies to build broadband networks with speeds up to 100 times faster than is currently available.
 The UW is one of 37 universities seeking responses to a Request for Information from service providers for a next-generation broadband network in the areas around UW`s campus. This national project is called Gig.U. The City intends to make its extensive network of dark fiber optic cable available to potential service providers in the project area. We have miles of fiberoptics lying dormant underground. By leveraging them through this partnership, we will greatly increase Gig.U`s chance of success by making the opportunity significantly more compelling to service providers. We`ve already put our underutilized assets to work elsewhere, by making empty conduit available to providers in Pioneer Square. Click to watch video.
Comcast to bring fiber to Pioneer Square
On June 15, 2011, Mayor McGinn announced that Comcast was selected to lease City-owned conduit to run fiber and offer high speed broadband services to local businesses and residents in a four block area of Pioneer Square. Service will be available to businesses on First Avenue by September.
"We can't wait to begin knocking on doors and connecting businesses to our fiber-rich network. We have long wanted to serve this neighborhood, because of its reputation as a business incubator, but the numbers just never quite penciled out until now," said Todd Elliott, director of Enterprise Sales for Comcast. "Thanks to the city's innovative proposal, we have an opportunity to meet the growing bandwidth needs of the area's Internet start-ups for many years to come, as well as to help the city grow its economy by providing the services these businesses need to remain competitive."
One local company, Onehub, is moving from Bellevue to Seattle and excited about the increased high-speed Internet. "Onehub is very excited to be moving its headquarters to Pioneer Square," said Charles Mount, CEO of Onehub. "Pioneer Square has become the place to be for Seattle startups. The neighborhood has great character, accessibility by public transportation, affordable office space and now, thanks to the city, high-speed Internet that is essential to Onehub and other technology startups."
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