CenturyLink to Deploy 1-Gbps Network to a Few Thousand Homes in Las Vegas, More to Come

CenturyLink says it will deploy a 1-Gbps service to some neighborhoods in Las Vegas, Nevada in the fall of 2013. to “a few thousand homes,” with a “significant” increase in 2014."

CenturyLink also has a gigabit service in Omaha, Neb., where it had inherited a fiber-to-home testbed of about 48,000 homes.

The service will start at $79.95 per month with a 12-month contract, or $124.94 when paired with Prism TV, the telco's IPTV service, along with a six-month contract.

CenturyLink will deploy first in areas with the most demand.

CenturyLink says it has about 73 percent of its access lines capable of 6 Mbps speed, over 61 percent of lines capable of 10 Mbps and 32 percent capable of 20 Mbps. Some areas of CenturyLink metro areas can be served as speeds up to 40 Mbps.

Many observers would credit Google Fiber for the new interest in gigabit services. Many also would say the new value-price relationship--a gigabit service for $80, when bundled with video--also is a response to the new price umbrella Google Fiber is creating.