Google To Test Ultrafast Broadband Network
Google announced Wednesday that it plans to build several demonstration networks that would provide ultrafast broadband Internet service. In a blog post, Google product managers Minnie Ingersoll and James Kelly said the Internet firm plans to build and test ultra high-speed broadband in a "small number of trial locations" across the country.
With 1 gigabit-per-second, fiber-optic lines to the home, they say the projects will provide Internet speeds "more than 100 times faster" than what most Americans receive today from their current broadband providers. "We plan to offer service at a competitive price to at least 50,000 and potentially up to 500,000 people," Ingersoll and Kelly wrote. Communities interested in participating in the demonstration projects will have until March 26 to provide their responses to Google.
"Our goal is to experiment with new ways to help make Internet access better and faster for everyone," they said. Some of the aims of the project include helping to spur the development of next-generation applications, experimenting with new ways to deploy fiber networks and ensuring open access by giving users the choice of multiple service providers.
"Big broadband creates big opportunities," FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said in a statement praising Google's demonstration project. "This significant trial will provide an American test bed for the next generation of innovative, high-speed Internet apps, devices, and services."
Open Internet Coalition Executive Director Markham Erickson said in a statement that the project should "serve as an example to other network operators that the open model should not be feared, but should be emulated." His coalition, which includes Google, favors open access to broadband networks and network neutrality rules.
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