College Station council hears pitch for high-speed Internet

The College Station (TX) City Council entertained a proposal to allow business and residents access to cheaper high-speed Internet connections that could allow for virtual reality simulations, real-time genomic sequencing, ultra-high definition video streaming and other applications in the not-too-distant future.

Blair Levin, executive director of nonprofit Gig.U, delivered a presentation to the council during its workshop session. Levin, who was the Federal Communications Commission chief of staff during the Clinton presidency, called upon the councilmembers to consider policy changes that could bring more gigabit-per-second speed Internet connections to town -- roughly 20 times as fast as what's available to most residential phone and cable subscribers, proponents said. The proposal, and Levin's visit, were organized by freshman councilman James Benham, owner of a technology company in Downtown Bryan. Benham's business, along with the others downtown, already has access to the gigabit speeds, but he said he wants to see the service expanded to benefit residents, the business community and to attract businesses.