SOUTH PORTLAND – Installing a new, ultra-fast Internet network in South Portland offers much more than the ability to do what people are already doing online, only faster.

It’s also about being able to do “a whole slew of things that weren’t possible before,” according to Fletcher Kittredge, the CEO of Great Works Internet, which is partnering with South Portland to bring super-fast Internet to the city.

Following a press conference held Monday to introduce the new Internet project, Kittredge told the Current that the new gigabit-per-second fiber optic network would have “significant and very broad economic impacts.”

He added, “This makes many things possible.”

Studies show that super-fast Internet availability raises property values and is an incentive for business to locate in a particular area.

South Portland city officials also feel the new network will be a boon.

On Monday Mayor Gerard Jalbert said the infrastructure improvement is a “big boost for South Portland in both the near and long term. This is a tech-driven world, and this is an opportunity for us to attract and retain businesses.”

Jalbert went on to say, “This is a great day for South Portland. This (offers) pretty dramatic improvement.”

The city’s information technology director, Chris Dumais, agreed, saying, “This is a great day for economic development in South Portland.”

He said the ultra-fast Internet project started with a simple need for municipal facilities to have a better, more reliable connection, but then staff asked: “What if we could provide gigabit speed access to businesses and residents, (too)?”

During the press conference Monday, Kittredge said the project would not only vastly improve services in the areas of the city designated to receive super-fast Internet access, but it also provides a backbone for future build-out of a wider network.

The first phase of the new fiber-optic network will connect the Mill Creek, Knightville, Ocean Avenue, Highland Avenue and Evans Street corridors. The second phase will connect the Western Avenue, Westbrook Street and Wescott Road corridors.

And the third phase would expand the network even further, as funding becomes available, Kittredge said. In all, GWI will install about four miles of fiber-optic cables, which, Kittredge said, would be placed on already existing utility poles.

The ultra high-speed Internet project in South Portland is similar to one announced by the town of Rockport and GWI last month, but is “several times larger” according to a press release issued by the Internet company.

Even with the launching of the ConnectME Authority several years ago, which was designed to ensure that all Mainers have access to broadband Internet services, Maine is still ranked 49th out of the 50 states by Ookla NetMetrics in terms of the quality and availability of broadband access.

Earlier this year, the Maine Technology Users Group held a press conference at South Portland City Hall to talk about the state’s abysmal Internet ranking, arguing the lack of access to high-speed Internet is an impediment to creating jobs and boosting the economy.

Part of the problem, the Maine Technology group said in January, is that Maine doesn’t offer the tax breaks and subsidies that are available in other states for Internet network improvements, which is why communities like South Portland and Rockport are turning to private-public partnerships instead.

During Monday’s press conference, Kittredge said the partnerships his company has created with the two municipalities is a model that could be used by other communities across Maine, especially since “it will be a while before we get any federal or state funding to invest in this type of infrastructure.”

He added, “That’s why we needed to get started ourselves. We have a long history of self-reliance and Yankee ingenuity,” which makes projects like the one in South Portland possible.

The new Internet network will offer 1 gigabit per second service, which means it will be capable of transmitting 1,000 megabits of data per second. It is also symmetrical, which means that customers can upload data to the Internet just as fast as they can download.

Kittredge told the Current that’s key to the Maine economy, which is reliant on many home-based and small businesses. He said ultra-fast Internet not only lowers the costs of doing business, but it also increases productivity and reliability.

In addition, he said up to one half of new jobs are Internet related and without high-speed Internet availability medium to large-sized companies would not even consider locating in Maine because an ultra-fast Internet connection is “especially necessary” for cloud computing.

According to GWI, in many parts of Maine, it’s common for download speeds to be 15 megabits per second or less and for upload speeds to be 1 megabit per second or less.

Although GWI will own the new fiber optic network, it will be an open system, which means that other Internet providers will also have access, for a fee. GWI will then share a portion of its revenues from use of the network with the city.

The contract South Portland signed with GWI is for $150,000. In addition to offering super high-speed access to businesses and residents, the contract also ensures that city facilities will be connected to the new fiber optic network.

In addition, GWI has committed to investing $20,000 of its own money. Under the contract, GWI has until mid-January to complete the first phase of the project.

Kittredge said his company is also in “various stages of negotiations” with several other communities to bring in a similar ultra-fast Internet network.