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Residents of four more US regions will have a chance to sample Google’s high-speed fiber network.
Google said Fiber, the company’s 1-gigabit-per-second broadband network, is expanding to 18 cities in the Atlanta; Charlotte, N.C.; Raleigh-Durham, N.C.; and Nashville, Tenn., regions.
The Wall Street Journal earlier reported the news.
The company also said it’s exploring ways to bring Fiber to five more metro areas: Phoenix; Portland, Ore.; Salt Lake City; San Antonio; and San Jose, Calif.
The launch is in line with Google’s ever-increasing telecommunications ambitions. The Internet giant has been trying to shake up the wireless industry in an attempt to create better experiences for customers and, in turn, expand its revenue.
Google is reportedly in talks with wireless carriers Sprint and T-Mobile to sell and manage mobile plans. The company has also been experimenting with satellites and Wi-Fi-beaming balloons to bring Internet access to underserved regions across the globe.
Google Fiber currently is available in Kansas City; Austin, Texas; and Provo, Utah. At $80 per month, the service offers speeds about blazingly faster than the average Internet connection. Google has been gradually rolling out its Fiber network to select cities, but only in neighborhoods that express interest in the high-speed network. It typically takes Google about a year to build the necessary infrastructure before those neighborhoods can tap into the service.
The company said the next step is working with cities to build a map of where it can put the thousands of miles of fiber required for the project. The plan is to use the cities’ existing infrastructure and make sure it doesn’t disrupt things like gas and water lines.
Updated, 10:33 a.m. PT: Adds confirmation from Google and more detail from the company’s announcement.
