Gulf Coast fiber-optic cable company Southern Light says it is seeking a city franchise to begin running fiber-optic cable in Huntsville. "It's clear the citizens have a need," Chief Operating Officer Eric Daniels said Tuesday.

Southern Light has nearly 5,000 miles of cable now linking hundreds of businesses and public entities on the Gulf Coast from New Orleans to Panama City, Fla. It recently expanded to Tallahassee and Jacksonville, Fla.

The privately held Alabama company does not provide the content that flows over its cables, but its network links businesses and is used by Internet service providers to move data and other content.

Southern Light's move into North Alabama coincides with City of Huntsville's push to bring high-speed Internet to every business and residence in the city. Huntsville is seeking formal proposals from companies that want to partner with city hall on a system capable of moving a Gigabit of information per second to and from every home and business in the city.

"We're routinely doing 10 Gigabits for people," Daniels said Tuesday.

Daniels said Southern Light will have live cable in Huntsville beginning six months after it receives a city franchise to access local right of way. It will pay a franchise fee to the city, and city officials confirm an application review process is under way. "The network is going to be built," Daniels said, adding that the company is excited by what it is learning about the market.

Typically, the company begins laying cable in a city's downtown area and expands according to the market, Daniels said. According to its website, Southern Light services include:

1. Private line transport for large amounts of data between locations of data-intensive businesses like banks and health centers.

2. Dark fiber or empty fiber-optic cable for customers who want their own networks.

3. Dedicated Internet access to connect businesses to ultra-high bandwidth via Tier 1 providers.

4. Data center services

5. Wireless infrastructure

6. Managed firewall and router services and network consulting