Dive Brief:
- Google said it’s added three more cities to its list of those that could potentially get Google fiber: Oklahoma City, Jacksonville and Tampa.
- The latest invitees bring the number of cities where Google has begun serving customers, designing or building fiber, or is exploring service to 18.
- Kansas City (both Missouri and Kansas), was the first community to get Google fiber in 2011, joined by Austin, Texas, and Provo, Utah, in 2013.
Dive Insight:
In a blog posted Wednesday, Google said it had invited the three cities to "explore" bringing faster fiber to their communities.
In September, Google extended a similar invitation to San Diego and Irvine, Calif., and Louisville, Ky.
"Constructing a brand-new fiber community is a big job," said Jill Szuchmacher, director of expansion.
Google's fiber push has effectively motivated some traditional Internet providers to focus on boosting speeds and launching fiber initiatives themselves. Nearly a year ago, AT&T said it would continue a previously announced 100-city fiber-optic network expansion in 25 metro areas. In August, Verizon said it was developing broadband technology capable of delivering download speeds of 10 gigabits per second -- 1,000 times faster than the average U.S. home Internet connection. Increasing broadband speeds could mean huge benefits for companies that need to share large amounts of data quickly.