JOHNSTOWN — Atlantic Broadband, the nation’s eighth largest cable operator, announced Tuesday the expansion of its Gigabit internet deployment for residential and business customers in Western Pennsylvania including Johnstown, Altoona, Bradford and Warren service areas.

This launch is part of Atlantic Broadband’s expansion initiative aimed to be completed by the end of the year, at which time Gigabit speed internet will be available to most of its service footprint, extending across 11 states from Maine to Florida.

Atlantic Broadband was the first provider in Connecticut to launch Gigabit speed internet in 2016 and was the first to deploy the service a year later in its Miami footprint. Additional launches occurred in 2018 in its New Hampshire/Maine, Southern Maryland, and Aiken, South Carolina service areas.

“Atlantic Broadband is committed to providing customers in its Western Pennsylvania service areas with the latest Gigabit internet speeds,” said Curt Kosko, Atlantic Broadband’s senior vice president and general manager. “This expansion will provide highly reliable, transformative internet speeds to homes and businesses throughout our service areas in this part of the state.”

The average internet download speed over fixed broadband in the U.S. is about 96 Mbps, according to Ookla’s Q2/Q3 2018 national report. Gigabit internet delivers speeds up to 10 times faster, according to Atlantic Broadband.