Editor’s note: Two quotes in this story were transcribed incorrectly. Thay have been corrected.

Longmont residents in search of lightning fast Internet service may soon have one more option as Comcast prepares to jump into the residential gigabit arms race, rivalling the city-owned NextLight network.

Comcast announced last week that it was rolling out a 2 gigabit-per-second service to all Longmont residents by the end of the summer. The service, which does not have an announced price yet, will also be available in Boulder, Colorado Springs, Fort Collins, Loveland and the Denver metro area.

Comcast also announced a 250 megabits per second speed available immediately at a price of $150 per month, although Comcast spokeswoman Cindy Parsons noted there could be promotional rates that lower that price.

Both Comcast’s 2 gigabit service and Longmont Power & Communications’ NextLight’s 1 gigabit service use fiber optic cable to theoretically allow Internet users to upload or download data. A gigabit is 1,000 megabits per second. Actual speeds may vary based on hardware or server speed.

LPC is currently installing NextLight infrastructure and connecting customers’ homes throughout the city. Because of state law governing municipally-provided telecommunication, the city had to go to the ballots to be able to provide NextLight to customers. The venture is funded by a $40.3 million bond the city issued in 2014.

Comcast will be employing fiber optic cables directly to homes, which allows for faster Internet speeds than connecting a home to a major fiber optic cable loop via slower coaxial cable.

“Our network is extremely flexible — allowing us to surgically add speed and capacity in a smart and economically feasible way,” Parsons wrote in an email.

NextLight remains listed as the country’s fastest Internet Service Provider by speed testing company Ookla. Because of high demand for service, LPC announced in March it would speed up NextLight installs, moving both east and west around the city to reach the last phase in northern Longmont.

While Comcast’s 2 gig price has not been announced yet, NextLight is available to homes in Longmont for $50 a month for people who sign up for the service within the first three months it is available in their area. Without that charter membership, NextLight is $100 per month.

Despite Comcast promising to offer faster speeds to the whole city sooner at an unknown price point, LPC Manager Tom Roiniotis said he isn’t too worried about competition.

“We fully expected the incumbents to step their game up,” Roiniotis said, adding that he thought Comcasts’ actions were in response to a movement by municipalities to offer high-speed broadband. “I think it’s good because Longmont customers are going to have access to the fastest Internet service at the lowest price and other Coloradans will have access to faster Internet.”

While Comcast’s 2 gig price hasn’t been announced yet, Roiniotis is skeptical that the price will be comparable to NextLight’s $50 for 1 gig, considering Comcast’s new 250 megabits-per-second service is priced at $150.

“We’re offering something four times the speed at a third of the price,” he said.

The third major telecommunications competitor, CenturyLink, also jumped into the gigabit arms race in other parts of the state earlier this month. CenturyLink announced that it would offer speeds of 1 gigabit per second to 16,600 businesses in Aurora, Boulder and Fort Collins.

Karen Antonacci: 303-684-5226, antonaccik@times-call.com or twitter.com/ktonacci