Panel to study wiring San Francisco with high-speed Internet

San Francisco (CA) Supervisor Mark Farrell has assembled a group of business, privacy and academic experts to discuss crucial, early-stage questions surrounding Farrell’s plan to wire the city with high-speed Internet service. In the coming months, the San Francisco Municipal Fiber Blue Ribbon Panel will conduct research and provide recommendations on the most efficient and effective ways to blanket the city with broadband, an effort that could cost up to $1 billion.

If it becomes reality, San Francisco would be the largest city in the country to implement citywide high-speed Internet. City officials are currently targeting speeds of 1 gigabit per second. The average Internet speed in the US is 31 megabits per second according to the most recent data published by the Federal Communications Commission, so this could be about 30 times faster. Farrell will serve as the panel’s co-chair alongside Harvard Law School Professor Susan Crawford.