LUS Fiber to transmit 1 Gbps service to Lafayette, La.

The service provider believes that its 1 Gbps service will be an attraction for businesses that might want to establish a presence in their community.

"We have raised the bar in order to make our community a place where technology companies want to locate," says Joey Durel, City-Parish President of Lafayette.

The 1 Gbps service follows its initial introduction of a 100 Mbps Internet service--which it initially only sold to local business customers--to residential users for $195.95 a month in September 2010.

LUS did not indicate when it would extend the 1 Gbps service to residential customers.

Of course, LUS is not the only service provider with 1 Gbps desires. Fellow municipal provider EPB Fiber in Chattanooga offers a 1 Gbps service for both consumers and residential customers. The service provider revealed it has 35,000 Fiber to the Premises (FTTP) customers, 9,000 more than its initial goal of 26,000 customers by the third year in operation. It is also ahead of its third year financial projections, reporting $57.3 million in revenue.

Of course, LUS and Chattanooga, like many municipal providers, faced a good amount of protest from traditional cable operators and telcos, including Cox Communications and AT&T.