Baltimore looks to join 'gigabit cities,' including Westminster, in boosting broadband Internet capacity

As Westminster (MD) joins a growing number of communities investing in networks capable of carrying a gigabit of data each second, Baltimore (MD) appears eager to follow. Armed with the results of two recently completed studies, one of which cost the city $157,000, City Council members are calling for action. Candidates and community groups are making the issue political, as a means to improve education and create jobs in Baltimore. And a newly appointed city broadband czar is working to coordinate the discussion.

But there's still no consensus on how Baltimore could become a gigabit city. It could try to cajole Verizon or another provider to invest in a citywide fiber network or build its own, as Westminster is doing and some City Council members recently suggested. "It's very much a blank sheet of paper," said Jason Hardebeck, a veteran technology entrepreneur appointed as the city's broadband coordinator in August by Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake. "We just recognize that the status quo for broadband in the city is not acceptable."