Cincinnati Bell extends 1 Gbps fiber service to The Brandery, sets plan for broader rollout

Cincinnati Bell's aggressive fiber rollout is having an effect on area small businesses, and its partnership with The Brandery, a consumer marketing and branding accelerator, is a good example of that trend.

Under the terms of the agreement, Cincinnati Bell will provide a 1 Gbps service to the company beginning in late June just as The Brandery's fifth class of startups begins work. In addition, Cincinnati Bell will provide voice and data service to Brandery graduates that decide to locate their businesses in the Cincinnati area.

Targeting startup companies, particularly those that reside in multi-tenant buildings, with higher speed Gigabit broadband services makes sense on various levels. Not only has the company continued to build out its fiber network to support its growing residential Fioptics business, but it's also supporting its growing base of large enterprise and wholesale customers.

Like its larger telco brethren AT&T (NYSE: T) and Verizon (NYSE: VZ), the service provider offers Gigabit data service to large businesses, but according to a recent report in The Cincinnati Enquirer, Cincinnati Bell is going to offer a 1 Gbps Fioptics tier.

The service initially will be rolled out to multi-tenant businesses by the end of June and then to general businesses and consumers by the end of September. However, the telco has not revealed pricing for the new service.

Introducing a 1 Gbps fiber to the premises (FTTP) service comes at a transitional time for Cincinnati Bell. Just last week the telco announced that it would sell off its struggling wireless business to Verizon Wireless so it could focus more of its efforts on building out its Fioptics broadband and entertainment business.

While a 1 Gbps service will enable Cincinnati Bell to far surpass its closest competitor Time Warner Cable (NYSE: TWC), the 20 Mbps tier remains the telco's most popular service.

Its bet on fiber has been a winner thus far. During the fourth quarter, Fioptics revenues rose 49 percent year-over-year to $29 million.

For more:
- The Cincinnati Enquirer has this article

Editor's Corner: Cincinnati Bell's wireless sale enhances its fiber-based broadband, business push

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