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Quicken Loans and Bedrock Real Estate Services founder Dan Gilbert at the a media preview event for the new John Varvatos store on Woodward Avenue in downtown Detroit March 12.

(Tanya Moutzalias | MLive Media Group)

DETROIT, MI - Dan Gilbert's Rocket Fiber will mean many things for downtown Detroit residents and businesses alike, and lightning-fast speeds are at the forefront, according to a Detroit Free Press report.

The Free Press interviewed Randy Foster and Edi Demaj, two of three cofounders of Rocket Fiber, which Gilbert, Quicken Loans founder, is funding.

Foster and Demaj said the service will be available in downtown during the "second half" of 2015, with plans to expand further along Woodward Avenue into Midtown.

During a Thursday press conference at the new John Varvatos store in downtown Detroit, Gilbert referenced Rocket Fiber multiple times as one of the handful of big things going on in downtown Detroit.

This was during a short talk Gilbert delivered about what the city of Detroit has going for it.

According to the Free Press report, Rocket Fiber will have amazingly quick download speeds: one second to download an album, and four minutes for a movie.

The broadband service will operate at speeds about 100 times faster than what's currently offered downtown.

Gilbert has been a strong supporter of tech companies in Detroit. Rocket Fiber furthers his cause.

The internet service could propel already existing Detroit small businesses compete on a national level, according to the Free Press.

If Rocket Fiber sticks in downtown, it will spread out to the neighborhoods along Woodward, Michigan Avenue and Gratiot Avenue, according to a map published by the Free Press.

The hyperfast internet will tote speeds of 1-gigabit-per-second; the average internet connection speed in Michigan is 12.7 megabits, according to the Free Press.

Residential service will cost $70 per month. For businesses, "under $1,000 a month," according to the Free Press.

The fiber service is necessary to keep up with tech towns across the country.

Construction on the fiber service began in downtown last fall, with crews digging to lay down fiber-optic cables.

The first wave of installations will happen in the downtown area between the Lodge on the west, I-375 to the east and I-75 to the north.

Those using the service will use either ethernet cables or Wi-Fi to connect.

Currently, Gilbert owns 70 properties totaling 10 million square feet in downtown Detroit. He's invested, to date, over $1.6 billion in Detroit.

Ian Thibodeau is the entertainment and business reporter for MLive Media Group in Detroit. He can be reached at ithibode@mlive.com, or follow him on Twitter.