EAST LANSING, Mich.—Michigan State University and the East Lansing-based Prima Civitas Foundation are joining a project to spread ultra-fast Internet access to communities around the country, it was announced Wednesday.
They’re taking part in a consortium called “Gig. U,” which is housed at Colorado’s Aspen Institute and includes 29 university communities nationwide.
“If successful, this would ensure that our community has access to the best broadband of any community in the world,” said David Gift, Michigan State’s vice provost for libraries.
Prima Civitas chief executive Steve Webster said the goal is to advance innovation and economic growth by upgrading the communities to very fast broadband services from providers. Ultra high speed is defined as 1 gigabit-per-second connectivity, which is hundreds of times faster than common cable download speeds.
“This project has the potential to be transformational for the capital region,” Webster said in a news release. “It’s an opportunity for our community to offer higher level broadband and accelerate its growth as a hotspot for knowledge economy jobs. This public/private partnership offers a strong competitive advantage for our region that few communities across the country could match.”
Colorado State University libraries dean Patrick Burns said the program can help boost U.S. competitiveness “at a time our country needs it most by accelerating the deployment of next generation broadband networks in those areas rich with our most fertile ideas.”
The consortium builds on work last year when Lansing and East Lansing took part in a national competition to lure Google higher-speed Internet connectivity to their areas. Kansas City, Kan., eventually won that competition.
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