Google Fiber cites Irvine, Louisville and San Diego as potential 1 Gig targets

Google Fiber (NASDAQ: GOOG) has cited that it is talking to three new cities  -- Irvine, Calif.; Louisville, Ky. and San Diego -- as three cities that it is considering to light its 1 Gbps service, but there's no promise the service provider will move forward with an actual deployment.

These three cities will join twelve metro areas where Google Fiber is in various stages of either already building out fiber to users, constructing and designing new networks, or exploring how it can work with a community to deliver the service.

The next step in the process of working with these cities is to begin a joint planning process with local leaders similar to way it did with the other nine metros last year.

Jill Szuchmacher, director of Google Fiber Expansion, said in a blog post that it will look at a number of issues "such as local topography, housing density and the condition of existing infrastructure."

Szuchmacher added that "cities will complete a checklist of items -- such as providing a map of utility lines -- that will prepare them for a large-scale fiber build."

Upon completion of that process, Google Fiber said it would make a determination on whether it can make the right business case to bring fiber to Irvine, Louisville and San Diego. The service provider is currently exploring if it can bring fiber to Phoenix, Portland and San Jose -- all of which it said "continue to make great progress."

A number of cities, including Phoenix, San Antonio, and Tempe, Ariz. have approved an operating license for Google Fiber.

Google Fiber is currently available in Kansas City, Mo.; Provo, Utah and Austin. Rollouts in Charlotte and the buildout of the Raleigh-Durham, N.C. market began in June this year, while Salt Lake City, San Antonio, Nashville and Atlanta are all listed as "upcoming" on the company's website.

Although Google Fiber is getting all of the attention as the new disruptor in the 1 Gbps services market, it is hardly alone.

Ting, another emerging FTTH player that has begun offering 1 Gbps service in Virginia, and is exploring expanding service into the Triangle area of North Carolina as one market. According to a Triangle Business Journal report, Ting is looking at areas that Google Fiber is bypassing.

For more:
- see this blog post

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