Sony ISP in Japan launches 2 Gbps internet and other gigabit internet news

1. Sony Corporation announced yesterday that its own Internet service provider So-net Entertainment has launched what is thought to be the world’s fastest Internet connection for home use, with download speeds clocking in at a massive 2 Gbps, on average twice as fast as competing high-speed fibre connections in Japan.

Targeting individual homes and apartment buildings of two floors or fewer, the ultra-fast connection, known as Nuro, will cost 4,980 yen (US$51) per month. Download speeds will be 2 Gbps and uploads of up to 1 Gbps. Customers are required to sign up for a two-year contract and pay 52,500 yen ($535) for the initial installation.

2. Vermont Telephone Co. (VTel), whose footprint covers 17,500 homes in the Green Mountain State, has begun to offer gigabit Internet speeds for $35 a month, using a brand new fiber network. So far about 600 Vermont homes have subscribed.

The company was able to afford the upgrades largely by winning federal stimulus awards set aside for broadband. Using $94 million in stimulus money, VTel has invested in stringing 1,200 miles of fiber across a number of rural Vermont counties over the past year

3. Goldman Sachs estimates that it would cost $140 billion to deploy Google Fiber nationwide.

A report, conducted jointly by Ericsson, Arthur D. Little and Chalmers University of Technology in 33 OECD countries, shows that doubling the broadband speed for an economy increases GDP by 0.3%. Gigabit internet is about 100 times faster than regular cable and DSL speeds. This would be a 2.0% boost in GDP. The 15 trillion US economy would be boosted by 300 billion each year.

If the government paid Google to deploy Google Fiber nationwide then 20% taxes against the increased economic activity would take about three years to recover the $140 billion investment.

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