OREANDA-NEWS. CenturyLink, Inc. (NYSE: CTL) today announced that it has one of the largest fiber-enabled gigabit networks in the country and continues as an industry leader in the number of homes it has enabled with broadband speeds up to 1 gigabit per second (Gbps). CenturyLink now offers gigabit Internet service to residential and small business customers in parts of 17 states and, by the end of 2015, should have more than 700,000 households across the country enabled with fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) technology capable of uploading and downloading information at speeds up to 1 Gbps.
CenturyLink first launched gigabit service to residents and small businesses in Omaha in 2013 as part of a fiber network trial and in August 2014, announced that it had expanded that gigabit service to residential and business customers in 16 markets. In May of this year, CenturyLink extended gigabit fiber service to additional small and midsized businesses (SMBs) located near the company's fiber network backbone or in fiber-fed multi-tenant unit office buildings, resulting in gigabit service being available to nearly 490,000 SMBs.

Today, CenturyLink is announcing that this ultra-fast gigabit service is now available to residential and small business customers in parts of six new states including Arizona, Idaho, Iowa, New Mexico, North Carolina and South Dakota.

"We said from the very beginning that we weren't going to just talk about bringing gigabit speeds to our customers, but that we were going to deliver these speeds now. That's exactly what we've done," said Shirish Lal, CenturyLink chief marketing officer. "Consumers and small businesses are ready for a broadband service that is capable of keeping up with today's bandwidth demands. With the proliferation of the Internet of Things and the connection of everyday objects to the Internet and to one another, we are pleased to deliver speeds that can support these new technologies."

CenturyLink's efforts to enhance broadband speeds across the country are being noticed. The company was recently honored for being a national leader in the advancement of broadband fiber services and was given the 2015 FTTH Council's Chairman's Award in acknowledgement of the company's tremendous efforts to promote, educate and accelerate deployment of fiber-to-the-home.

"CenturyLink does not boast about their success unless the deployment is real, and in our opinion, they've certainly got a lot to be proud of," said FTTH Council President and CEO Heather Burnett Gold. "It is clear the company is on fire for fiber!"

A recent FTTH Council study shows that access to gigabit networking can add more than $5,400 to the value of the average U.S. home.

CenturyLink is also deploying Prism® TV, an interactive TV service delivered through CenturyLink's nationwide fiber optic network, in many cities where it is offering gigabit service and has secured franchise agreements. Prism® TV is an alternative to cable and satellite services and provides customers with the latest in entertainment technology.