LAKELAND — City commissioners agreed Wednesday that they want to see what it will take to make downtown Lakeland a test bed for a city-owned gigabit-speed Internet service provider.
In that test bed area, the city could build and operate a fiber optics utility and sell Internet access services, with speeds roughly 100 times faster than the national average speed, to businesses and residents.
Lakeland has been trying to promote downtown as a complete urban live, work and play district, Commissioner Edie Yates said, and a high-quality, reasonably priced Internet service could help attract businesses and residents to the area.
