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A recent request for proposals from the North Carolina Next...

A recent request for proposals from the North Carolina Next Generation Network may help meet FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski’s Gigabit City Challenge for that state. The network is slated to include six communities -- Carrboro, Carry, Chapel Hill, Durham, Raleigh…

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and Winston-Salem, all of which approved the network last month -- and several universities -- the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Duke, North Carolina State and Wake Forest and Baptist Medical Center. The joint parties issued a request for proposals (http://xrl.us/bogie2) earlier this month, with responses due April 2, looking for vendors to help create a gigabit fiber network, an open access architectural framework, a “flexible menu of optional retail services,” all while making use of public-private assets and offering high-speed Internet, either wired or wireless, at a “substantial discount from current market prices,” according to the RFP. “Ultra-fast Internet speeds will spur innovators to develop next-generation apps and services that drive economic growth and U.S. competitiveness,” Genachowski said in a statement Monday. He said the announcement will “move us forward.” Gig.U Executive Director Blair Levin said earlier this month: “The NC NGN is the first regional effort to grow out of the Gig.U initiative. ... It builds on lessons learned from Gig.U and other related projects, offering potential providers both access to inputs that help lower deployment costs and the scale necessary for economic success."