Google Fiber Coming to Four New Metro Areas


Yesterday, Google officially confirmed that it was bringing its high-speed, low-cost fiber-optic network to four more US metros in the coming months, which will span 18 new cities total: Charlotte, Nashville, Raleigh-Durham, and Atlanta. What, no love for Minneapolis?

The news comes via a post on the Official Google Blog, in which the company makes the announcement of its expansion plans. The first step is going to be planning and engineering, and then the actual installation will kick off in a few months:

“Bringing Google Fiber to these cities is a long-term investment. We’ve been working closely with city leaders over the past year on a joint planning process to get their communities ready for google Fiber – and now the really hard work begins. Our next step is to work with cities to create a detailed map of where we can put our thousands of miles of fiber, using existing infrastructure such as utility poles and underground conduit, and making sure to avoid things like gas and water lines. Then a team of surveyors and engineers will hit the streets to fill in missing details. Once we’re done designing the network (which we expect to wrap up in a few months), we’ll start construction.”

Two of those metro areas, as you may have noticed, are located squarely in North Carolina. The other two – Nashville, TN, and Atlanta, GA – are also in the general vicinity, at least on the grand US-map kind of scale. I’d love to know what kind of data plays into Google’s decision-making process in terms of which cities get considered. The post also adds some details about what cities might be lucky enough to receive Google’s fiber-optic largesse next: Phonix, AZ, Portland, OR, Salt Lake City, UT, San Antonio, TX, and San Jose, CA.

In the end, no matter where Google Fiber ends up, the initiative definitely puts the onus on ISPs to step up their game and provide better service and pricing to customers all over the United States. Want to avoid competing with one of the world’s most influential tech companies? Give your customers good Internet access and service. That way if Google does train its eye on your territory, you’ll already have the infrastructure in place to stay competitive.

[Official Google Blog]