'Good progress' reported on Google Fiber study

Google Fiber is making "very good progress" in assessing whether it can install a fiber-optics network in Louisville that would provide exceptionally quick Internet service, a top city official says.

If the fiber network is installed, Google Fiber might provide Internet access around 20 times faster than conventional broadband, city officials said when they announced last fall that the company had agreed to put Louisville near the head of the class among dozens of communities that had also sought the network.

Ultrafast Internet service is widely seen as a boon for business attraction and retention.

Google Fiber has been studying the feasibility of installing the system here.

But Google Fiber officials recently have been reluctant to comment on the status of their consideration of Louisville for the fiber-optics network, installation of which would probably cost many tens of millions of dollars.

Its public affairs office did release a statement late Monday that merely said, "We continue to work closely with city leaders to gather information that will help us determine if we will bring Google Fiber to Louisville. We hope to share an update soon."

Ted Smith, city director of innovation and Mayor Greg Fischer's point person on broadband issues, said in an interview that it probably will be a few more months before "we have clarity" on whether Google Fiber will proceed with developing the fiber-optics system.

But he said that "all signs are pointing to positive solutions. ... We are making very good progress."

Smith said city officials are working with Google Fiber on details such as construction, utility permits and issues related to use of city-owned right of way. He said discussions are focused primarily on Google Fiber's potential cable television and Internet service in Louisville, but he noted that Google Fiber is experimenting with telephone service is some other markets.

The fiber network would greatly increase the speed for downloading material from the Internet, streaming movies, gaming and other activity. In addition to Internet access speed that is likely to be at least 20 times faster than conventional broadband, the Google system will also be more reliable.

Although the installation outcome is uncertain, Google Fiber has never walked away from a city it had identified as a potential market.

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Jill Szuchmacher, director of Google Fiber expansion, said last fall that Google typically charges customers $70 a month for Internet service and $130 a month for both Internet and television service.

Google Fiber, a five-year-old arm of the vast Google organization, has completed or has underway installation of high-speed, fiber-optics networks in metro Kansas City; San Antonio and Austin, Texas; Salt Lake City and Provo, Utah; Nashville, Tenn.; Raleigh-Durham and Charlotte, N.C.; and Atlanta.

Fischer said consumer demand for faster Internet speeds is at an all-time high. He noted that many of the things people do online — from gaming to streaming new movies — require a lot of bandwidth. Families want faster speeds at home to do what they love to do on the web, without buffering or fighting over bandwidth during prime time, he indicated. And rapid broadband is critical for business, officials said.

Google and the city are jointly exploring what it would take to build a fiber-optics network capable of delivering ultraquick gigabit speeds across Louisville. Google has been compiling a detailed study of local factors that might affect construction plans — such as topography, housing density and the condition of existing infrastructure.

Simultaneously, Louisville officials are developing a checklist of items — such as providing a map of existing utility lines — that could pave the way for a large-scale fiber network construction.

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Google said in a fact sheet that "we need to install thousand of miles of fiber — but we can't just put it wherever we want. First, we have to design the network, street by street, using information cities" provide. "Then, we create a map of where we can put our (fiber), accounting for existing infrastructure such as utility poles and underground conduit."

Google may have to pay a fee for the right to lay lines along public rights-of-way. Google officials said last fall that they couldn't predict when installation of lines might begin or how long it would take to install the system — probably both above and below ground.

Google would own the facilities that it installs.

Any fiber-optics provider would need Louisville Metro Council approval.

The city recently disclosed that at least three other companies have expressed interest in building a local fiber-optics network in some part, or all, of the community.  But Fischer said "we're not holding our breath" that one of them will proceed with installation. The three companies are BluegrassNet, SiFi Networks and FiberTech Networks.

Charter Communications, which expects soon to get the city's cable-television rights after federal officials approve a takeover of Time Warner Cable's business, recently pledged to greatly improve local Internet access and downloading time.

The Time Warner and Charter organizations have agreed to a complicated deal involving acquisition and merger under which Charter will assume much of Time Warner's service across the country.

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Charter officials recently told the Louisville Metro Council that it intends to provide faster Internet speeds at lower prices. Charter's slowest broadband tier is 60 megabits per second, about four times faster than Time Warner's current speed.

Meanwhile, AT&T said in December that it plans to offer ultra-fast gigabit Internet speeds to customers in the Louisville area, perhaps as early as in a year or so.

Smith said Tuesday that in other markets such seeming competition has lowered prices for phone, cable and Internet service.  He said every provider would have to develop its own service-delivery network and that two companies couldn't share networks or facilities.

The city is moving to make it easier for the communications providers in one respect. Now pending before the Metro Council is a measure that would allow a company to negotiate only one local franchise agreement — with metro government.

There are now more than 80 small suburban cities in Jefferson County, and a company at present would have to negotiate separate deals with each one of them.

However, the pending metro measure would allow the small cities to have the same agreement as the one negotiated with metro government.  A large number of the small cities have already passed resolutions agreeing to join such deals, Smith said.

Reporter Sheldon S. Shafer can be reached at (502) 582-7089, or via email at sshafer@courier-journal.com.