Comcast Completes Fiber Network Expansion to Business Communities in Northern Alabama

Investment to Deliver Multi-gigabit Speeds to Businesses in Gadsden and The Shoals

Comcast today announced it has completed significant fiber network buildouts designed to deliver 10-gigabit internet speeds to hundreds of businesses in Gadsden and The Shoals, including Muscle Shoals, Tuscumbia and Florence.

The new network will provide businesses with highly secure and ultra-fast connectivity and will increase access for businesses to Ethernet, Internet, Voice and Cloud services.

“We appreciate Comcast’s continued investments in Alabama,” said State Senator Andrew Jones (Centre). “The last year has confirmed that broadband connectivity is critically important for many basic work and life functions, so these investments are very timely.”

State Senator Tim Melson (Florence), added “Advanced technology upgrades spur economic development and make Alabama communities more attractive for both prospective employers and growing businesses alike. I would like to thank Comcast for their strong partnership in our area.”

Comcast Business serves schools, businesses, hospitals, and other organizations that require large amounts of bandwidth, are looking to link multiple locations, or that plan to connect their offices to a third-party data center. Services offered include:

• Ethernet Private Line: point-to-point connectivity between two customer sites for bandwidth-intensive applications.
• Ethernet Virtual Private Line: point-to-multipoint connection to enable customers to tailor bandwidth, performance characteristics, and cost.
• Ethernet Network Service: multipoint-to-multipoint connectivity to connect organizations with high-bandwidth requirements and multiple locations across Comcast’s network.
• Ethernet Dedicated Internet: continuous, high-bandwidth connectivity between customers’ LANs and the public Internet.

Additional Comcast Business services available in the network expansion areas include:

• ActiveCore SDN, a software-defined networking (SDN) platform providing businesses intelligent, centralized control for their networks via software applications like Managed Router and SD-WAN.
• Cybersecurity Services, reducing vulnerability to denial of service (DDoS) attacks and helping protect business infrastructure with managed security solutions; and
• Comcast Business VoiceEdge, a fully managed, scalable cloud-based voice system providing unified communications (UC) tools that can improve communication, enhance collaboration and help businesses increase productivity.

“We are proud to support the growing business communities in Northern Alabama and look forward to bringing our high-speed connectivity and technology investments into Gadsden and the Shoals,” said Comcast’s Regional SVP Jason Gumbs.

Nationally, Comcast Business’s Ethernet services are delivered over an advanced network that spans 140,000 miles and features a 100 Gbps backbone and expanded local footprint through Ethernet over HFC. Bandwidth is available up to 10 Gbps and can be scaled in increments and offered in three different classes of service, backed by strict service level agreements and monitored 24x7x365 from Comcast’s dedicated Network Operations Centers.

In the last three years, Comcast has invested nearly $152 million in technology and infrastructure improvements in its Alabama network.