Google Fiber: We'll add 34 cities UPDATE: Comcast adds fiber, too
Growth targets are South and West
"We want to bring more people access to Google Fiber — Internet that's up to 100 times faster than basic broadband. We've started early discussions with 34 cities in 9 metro areas around the United States to explore what it would take to bring a new fiber-optic network to their community," says Google here.
Google Fiber is in Kansas City and some of its suburbs, Austin Texas, and Provo Utah. It's thinking about adding Atlanta, Charlotte, Raleigh-Durham, Nashville, San Jose, Phoenix, Portland Ore., San Antonio, and Salt Lake City. But not, you know, New York, Philadelphia, Boston, Washington, or other big cities where Verizon or other big Internet companies already compete with Comcast or Time Warner.
What would it take to get Google Fiber to Philadelphia? We're not on the list, according to Google. Even if we were, this is Internet mega-provider Comcast's hometown, where Mayor Rendell used to get outraged by anyone who hoped to compete with Comcast. Of course that was before Verizon extended its own competing FiOS service.
Mayor Nutter also feels fondly toward the homegrown industry leader, given Comcast's planned construction and job growth. Though City Hall has been conducting an electronic and phone survey of Philadelphians to see how video and Internet service might be improved. Will be interesting to see what the city does with the results.
UPDATE: Comcast is "coincidentally" promising expanded high-speed fiber in certain markets, notes Multichannel News here.