Brentwood to Feature the Largest Gigabit Broadband Service Network in the Bay Area

Innovative Public-Private Partnership with Sonic.net will provide Affordable, State-of-the-art Broadband Services to City Residents and Businesses

In a dramatic move designed to provide high speed internet services to its residents and lure high tech employers, the City of Brentwood has entered into an agreement with Sonic.net to install gigabit broadband internet service throughout large portions of the city – thus making Brentwood the first city in the Bay Area to feature a widespread gigabit broadband network available to residents and businesses.

“We’re very proud to help create the largest gigabit network in the Bay Area,” said City Manager Paul Eldredge. “This new infrastructure will position Brentwood as one of the best places in the East Bay for businesses who require ultra-high speed internet access.”

Since 1999, Brentwood has required all new housing to include conduit with the capacity to allow fiber optic cable. Fifteen years later, the conditions seemed right to move ahead with a citywide installation of broadband infrastructure. So the City reached out to various internet providers and selected Santa Rosa-based Sonic.net.

Brentwood negotiated an innovative public-private partnership with Sonic.net, in which more than 8,000 households and businesses will be able to receive phone and gigabit internet service for as little as $40 per month. Dane Jasper, CEO and co-founder of Sonic.net, hopes that this agreement will serve as a model for development in other cities.

“Brentwood did a great job with their infrastructure planning, which helped facilitate this exciting opportunity,” said Jasper. “This partnership will combine Brentwood’s infrastructure with Sonic.net’s technology to create something that will benefit everyone.”

Under the terms of the partnership, Sonic.net will use existing underground City conduit to build a fiber optic network throughout the city. Sonic.net will offer a lower speed copper service to those areas of the city which currently do not have conduit available. In addition, Sonic.net, in conjunction with the City, is developing plans on how to cost effectively bring fiber service to the parts of town that currently do not have the necessary infrastructure.

Sonic.net will also connect certain public facilities to the gigabit network, including schools with conduit access and will dedicate fiber to the City for municipal services. The City will not be required to contribute any funds towards the deployment or the ongoing maintenance costs of the gigabit network.

By becoming a gigabit city and with its proximity to major technology job centers, Brentwood will be well positioned as an attractive location for the next generation of technology firms. Sonic.net, the largest independent internet service provider in northern California, ran the first Google gigabit fiber network at Stanford University in Palo Alto, and was recently issued a permit to start fiber construction in San Francisco’s Outer Sunset District and currently services over 80,000 customers.

Residents who wish to receive additional information on Sonic.net can go to the following link: http://sonic.net/brentwood