Another locally driven gigabit (Gbit/s) broadband Ethernet installation shows the growing thirst for big bandwidth in business communities across America.

Service provider Comporium and equipment provider ADTRAN this week are the latest to announce that they are partnering to rollout a gigabit Ethernet service that will serve 300 businesses the community of Rock Hill, South Carolina. The town, like many in Middle America, is looking to drive high-quality jobs by creating a tech-savvy district known as Knowledge Park.

Comporium, the City of Rock Hill, Winthrop University and other community partners are looking to convert buildings in the historical area of town and wire them up with gigabit services. Comporium will deploy the ADTRAN Total Access 5004 platform to deliver Gigabit Ethernet over fiber using Passive Optical Networking (PON) technology.

Although this particular deployment is quite small, it appears that there's a trend to bring gigabit broadband to market, as both global service providers and regional providers look to upgrade broadband in the competition for high-tech services, one of the fastest growing areas of the economy and the jobs markets.

Here's a summary of some of the activity on that front in recent months, some of which we've covered here on the Rayno Report.

• Cox Communications announced this month that it plans to bring gigabit services to Phoenix, Las Vegas and Omaha, Nebraska, late this year.
• Calix (CALX) and TSD Telecom announced this week they have partnered to bring gigabit broadband to Hollis, NH.
• Google's is rolling out fiber in Kansas City and Provo, Utah, and Austin, Texas. It's also consdering services in Arizona.
• AT&T is launching a gigabit service called Gigapower in Austin and has a planned offering in Research Triangle Park, N.C. GigaPower.

So, if you are hoping for more gigabit broadband services in your neighborhood, the trend is your friend.