While regulators fret over Comcast’s attempt to control a greater percentage of Internet service across the country, Google is planning a major rollout of its own high-speed Internet service, Google Fiber. Google already offers Fiber in Kansas City, Provo and Austin, and it will now expand the service to as many as 34 new cities.
It has targeted nine major metro areas, including Atlanta, Charlotte, Nashville, Phoenix and Salt Lake City. Speed differentiates Fiber from your average Internet connection, as Google sets up wires under a city that deliver Internet at gigabit speeds (rather than regular old megabit).
“People are hungrier than ever for faster Internet, and as a result, cities across America are making speed a priority,” Google’s VP of Access Services Milo Medin said in a blog post. “Hundreds of mayors from across the U.S. have stated that abundant high-speed Internet access is essential for sparking innovation, driving economic growth and improving education.”
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Los Angeles is one of those cities, as new mayor Eric Garcetti has pledged to bring faster Internet to America’s second largest metropolitan area.
Google will perform studies and consults with all of the cities before it determines which of the 34 cities and nine metro areas make the most sense (and are most amenable).
“Cities who go through this process with us will be more prepared for us or any provider who wants to build a fiber network,” Medin wrote. “In fact, we want to give everyone a boost in their thinking about how to bring fiber to their communities.”