Google’s plan lets ‘fiberhoods’ determine network’s direction

Google Inc.’s plans to let demand in “fiberhoods” drive where it will light up the network gives up some control to Kansas City, Kan., and Kansas City, Mo.
But the strategy also makes business sense for the technology giant.
By Sept. 9, Google theoretically will know where it makes the most sense to put the network. It will be able to proceed accordingly and much more quickly than if Google had opted for a more piece-meal approach, lowering Google’s overall costs, said Milo Medin, vice president of Google’s Access Services.
“People will sign up, and we can install all of them in a wave,” Medin said.
On Thursday, Google officials launched a six-week rally to determine which Kansas City neighborhoods would receive the highly anticipated network.
Google said it would build and activate the network in places that met predetermined minimum levels of interest.
Google is measuring this interest by the amount of Kansas Citians who go online, pay $10 and pre-register for one of the three Internet packages.
Based on population density and difficulty level of installing the network, Google has set different percentages — ranging from 5 to 25 percent — that neighborhoods must reach to get the service.
Google officials were silent on dollar specifics when asked about overall project costs.
In the past year, industry and community speculation has run wild over how Google would offset expenses if it offered a free Internet service locally.
Thursday’s announced Google Fiber Television product offers some answers. Google’s top-tier package for $120 comes with Internet TV and the caveat that premium channels will carry additional fees.
Google CFO Patrick Pichette said Kansas City had a tremendous opportunity to show the world what a gigabit can do.
But, he said: “There’s no doubt. We’ve done this on a for-profit basis.”