Business customers in select regions of BellSouth's North Carolina and Florida markets will have the option of data services with speeds of up to 1 Gbps, as BellSouth announced that it was deploying Gigabit Ethernet gear to its metro network.

The faster service will be aimed at businesses, schools and government agencies requiring faster data services in metro areas in the region. Potential enterprise customers can choose a point-to-point connection, or a switched connection where several locations can interconnect at speeds from 1.5 Mbps up to 1 Gbps.

BellSouth offers metro Ethernet services throughout its nine-state region. New services at Gigabit speed will be available in the Atlanta, Miami, Jacksonville, Orlando, Charlotte, Raleigh, Greensboro, and other select Florida and North Carolina markets.