Taking a similar path it first paved in Atlanta, Google Fiber said it is accelerating its move into San Francisco by using existing fiber there to deliver services to certain apartments, condos and housing properties in the market.
“To date, we’ve focused mostly on building fiber-optic networks from scratch. Now, as Google Fiber grows, we’re looking for more ways to serve cities of different shapes and sizes,” Michael Slinger, director of business operations, Google Fiber, said in this blog post.
Also of note, Google Fiber announced this week that it will offer services on a planned municipal fiber network being built in Huntsville, Ala.
“By using existing fiber to connect some apartments and condos, as we’ve done before, we can bring service to residents more quickly. This approach will allow us to serve a portion of San Francisco, complementing the City’s ongoing efforts to bring abundant, high-speed Internet to the City by the Bay,” Slinger wrote.
Google Fiber has not announced details on service and the launch timeline in San Francisco, where it will compete with Comcast, which offers a symmetrical 2 Gbps residential service called Gigabit Pro that uses FTTP, and AT&T, which has tagged S.F. for expansion of its fiber-based GigaPower service. However, Google Fiber has set up a website where area residents can keep tabs on service deployment developments.
With San Francisco added in, Google Fiber said it has committed to bring its mix of gigabit and pay TV services to ten metro areas. Others on that list include parts of Kansas City; Provo, and Salt Lake City, Utah; Atlanta; Austin and San Antonio, Texas; Nashville, Tenn.; and Charlotte and Raleigh-Durham, N.C.
Google Fiber is also exploring expansions in Chicago; Portland, Ore.; Los Angeles, San Jose, Irvine and San Diego, Calif.; Phoenix; Oklahoma City; Louisville, Ky.; and Jacksonville and Tampa, Fla.
