Offering improved services to Colorado residents and Comcast's subscribers in mountain communities, Comcast (News - Alert) has partnered with the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) and has announced a first-of-its-kind fiber optic network lease agreement.

Allowing Comcast to launch advanced features and services, including more Spanish-language news in mountain communities, the agreement will benefit Colorado residents by increasing capacity along 1-70 between Golden and Vail. The leased fiber runs from approximately Golden to Vail and is part of CDOT's existing network. Comcast will provide support for this portion of CDOT's fiber network with maintenance service as part of the lease agreement.

Comcast will offer video on demand to its customers, giving them have access to thousands of movies and shows that can be watched anytime, the company stated.

“We couldn't be more excited about this partnership," said Amy Lynch, Comcast vice president of field operations for the mountains. "The launch of our most current technologies in Summit and Eagle counties means that we're able to provide the country's best entertainment and communications services more ubiquitously across Colorado. We thank CDOT for giving us this opportunity and are grateful for the collaboration.”

CDOT is in need of better utilization of its resources and the maintenance services provided by Comcast will free up much needed resources for the company. The estimated value of this benefit to Colorado taxpayers over the next 20 years is $14.5 million. Comcast will launch advanced video, Internet and digital voice services in Colorado mountain communities with the added bandwidth, the company has stated.

Recently, the company revealed that it would introduce the Xfinity application for iPad, which will allow Comcast digital subscribers to view movies and TV episodes on the tablet computer. Unveiled in May, the application serves as a TV guide, mobile player and remote control, allowing subscribers to find what they want to watch as well as change the channel, according to a Business Insider article.

Raju Shanbhag is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To read more of Raju’s articles, please visit his columnist page.

Edited by Tammy Wolf