I’m excited by Google’s announcement of gigabit fiber to the home. I think it will grab the attention of US Internet Service Providers. The intention starts as an experiment, but the Goog’s role in building out US infrastructure could provide an end run around the telco/cableco duopoly in your service area.
Google says this about the ultra high speed fiber network they envision:
Here are some specific things that we have in mind:
- Next generation apps: We want to see what developers and users can do with ultra high-speeds, whether it’s creating new bandwidth-intensive “killer apps” and services, or other uses we can’t yet imagine.
- New deployment techniques: We’ll test new ways to build fiber networks, and to help inform and support deployments elsewhere, we’ll share key lessons learned with the world.
- Openness and choice: We’ll operate an “open access” network, giving users the choice of multiple service providers. And consistent with our past advocacy, we’ll manage our network in an open, non-discriminatory and transparent way.
That last bullet point about “openness and choice” is the meat of the announcement. A lot is implied by the Goog’s intention to give “users the choice of multiple service providers.” Here in my service area I have a choice of DSL via AT&T copper circuits or satellite transmission via a satellite that’s low on my southern horizon. Yet, running a half mile through my fields and straight past my house there is a humongous fiber pipe. There’s a manhole providing service access not more than a hundred feet from my front door. What would it take for me to dip into that river of information? Maybe Google’s investment in fiber infrastructure will pay off for rural folks like me. Maybe the company pledged to “do no evil” can jump-start the FCC’s approach to a national broadband plan unfettered by the duopoly’s control.
“Big broadband creates big opportunities.”
– Julius Genachowski, Chairman US FCC
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
