Google to expand 1-gigabit per second broadband speed to 34 US cities

Google Inc yesterday announced that it plans to expand its Google Fibre high-speed broadband coverage to 34 cities across eight states in the US – a move that will eat into the subscribers of competitors like AT&T, Time Warner Cable and Comcast.

Google, which already launched its ultra high speed fibre-optic broadband services in Kansas City, Austin, in Texas and Provo in Utah, will now expand the services to 34 cities in nine metro areas, including Portland, Oregon, San Jose, Phoenix, Salt Lake City, San Antonio, Nashville, Atlanta, Charlotte, and Raleigh-Durham.

In early 2010, the internet search giant shook the tight-knit US broadband industry by announcing plans to enter into the super-fast broadband business by offering an experimental broadband speed up to 1 gigabit per second in the US, which was then more than 100 times faster than what most broadband service provider's offered in the US. (See: Google to provide broadband with 1 Gigabyte speed)

Its service, Google Fiber, offers internet speeds of up to 1 gigabit per second and is around 100 times faster than the normal broadband connections, which rely on copper cables.

Milo Medin, VP of Google Access Services, wrote on the company's blog, ''We've long believed that the Internet's next chapter will be built on gigabit speeds, so it's fantastic to see this momentum. And now that we've learned a lot from our Google Fiber projects in Kansas City, Austin and Provo, we want to help build more ultra-fast networks. So we've invited cities in nine metro areas around the US - 34 cities altogether - to work with us to explore what it would take to bring them Google Fiber.''

Google charges $70 a month for thsrvice, rising to $120 a month with 200+ TV channels in Kansas City for 1 gigabit speed, but the California-based company did not say what price it would charge in the new cities.

Rivals Comcast offer only half the speed of Google Fiber and charges around $340 a month.

Google's announcement of expanding its broadband services to other cities sent Comcast stock price falling by 3.7 per cent and Time Warner Cable by 2.8 per cent, leaing investors concerned since Comcast last week announced a mega $45-billion merger with Time Warner Cable. (See: Time Warner Cable to merge with Comcast in $45-bn deal)

Despite the fact that internet was an American invention, the US is ranked 12th globally in broadband speed. Overall average connection speeds in the US are only 5 Mbps.

The Google Fiber project started off in February 2010, when the company announced plans to build an ultra-high speed internet network in a select US city that was willing to partner with it.

The response was overwhelming, with Google receiving invitations from almost 1,100 US communities and close to 200,000 individuals, all expressing their desire for faster internet service. Some cities even resorted to stunts in their bid to attract the Google Fiber project, with one city mayor even jumping into a frozen river and posting the request on YouTube.

Finally in spring 2011, the Midwest community of Kansas City was chosen as the Google Fiber launch site because of its business-friendly infrastructure, community involvement, and supportive officials.

While launching its ultra high speed broadband services project in 2010, Google said the purpose of this project is to experiment and learn and help make internet access better and faster for everyone. It also wants the project to become an open-access network and wants to see what developers and users can do with ultra high-speeds.

Google, which calls broadband as the "dial tone of the 21st century", has been wielding its influence at Capitol Hill, asking lawmakers to make broadband service in the US conform to the standard and speed of those in Europe and Asia.