Almost ten months ago, Google finally picked Kansas City, Kansas as its 1Gbps fiber-to-the-home project, promising to start offering service in 2012. So where are they now? Stringing and laying fiber? Hooking up the first neighborhood? Actually, according to the Kansas City Star, they’re still trying to finalize the negotiation of pole attachment rights.
Apparently, the fiber business isn’t as easy as they thought. The question seems to be the how and where the fiber will be hung relative to the power lines. Google wants to pay less by threading it in among those lines, which is harder but costs less than hanging it where telecommunications companies usually hang stuff. But there are safety and other issues that have proven difficult to navigate.
Supposedly they will be finalizing the agreement soon, and Google isn’t admitting to any delay yet. But clearly they were hoping to wrap this detail up quicker than this. Hopefully soon we will see them get down to business.
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Categories: FTTH
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Never made sense to me to pick KC to begin with. Old Everest now Surewest is years ahead of them. Other respected players in the area as well, especially business district, but what do I know?
It seems to be unnecessarily difficult for providers to deploy new networks. If the government is serious about expanding higher speed access to the Internet (whether broadband or dedicated services), maybe they need to look at the barriers to entry other than money.
Google seems to think that if you build it they will come. But the FTTH industry is very competitive. Hardware such as fiber optic splitters (basically PLC splitters), CWDM filters, and GPON equipment are very mature. What innovation does Google think will distinguish them?
Kirk
http://www.skyrocketsupply.com
The only thing they are doing is using KC as a high-speed laboratory to see what customer will do and want in a 1Gbps world. It’s not about making money or even becoming a nation ISP (not yet at least).