Google Fiber is inching ever closer to formally announcing plans to offer service in Portland, but it's still weeks or months away from winning a franchise agreement to serve the suburbs.

For well over two years, Google has been deliberating very publicly about the possibility of bringing its superfast internet service to the Portland area. It offers gigabit connections -- 40 times faster than the federal broadband standard - for $70 a month.

Google secured its second Portland franchise earlier this month, extending its authorization to operate in the city until 2026. The company has hired local personnel and won city permission to start installing "fiber huts" to run the Portland network. It could announce plans to offer service in parts of the city by the end of the summer.

The pace is considerably slower in the suburbs, where Google has yet to win even one franchise agreement. Google Fiber is considering service in Gresham, Tigard, Lake Oswego, Beaverton and Hillsboro.

"It's been sort of an extended process," said Jordan Wheeler, Lake Oswego's deputy city manager, in considerable understatement.

Google Fiber's interest in the Portland area was delayed for more than a year by an Oregon Supreme Court ruling, which made the service subject to an unusual state property tax. Google said it would not operate in the state without an exemption, so lawmakers created one early last year.

Now, other issues are cropping in the metro area's smaller cities. Lake Oswego, Tigard, Beaverton and Hillsboro all want Google Fiber's franchise to be similar to existing cable TV franchises the cities have with Comcast, CenturyLink and Frontier, according to Wheeler. But though Google does offer a subscription TV option, Wheeler said Google is primarily a broadband service.

So the cities and company have been haggling over the definition of gross revenue and which neighborhoods Google would serve, according to Wheeler. He said the cities also want a firm commitment from Google to serve their communities - but that Google doesn't want to make that commitment until it has a franchise.

Complicating matters in Lake Oswego, the city is contemplating its own high-speed fiber network. The issue will go before city voters in November.

Negotiations with Google are advancing, Wheeler said, but with the Lake Oswego city council on hiatus in August, the soonest Google could win its franchise would be September.

"I definitely think it's possible" by then, Wheeler said. "Whether it happens or not I have no idea."

In Gresham, which is negotiating separately from the western suburbs, there appears to be less progress.

City spokeswoman Elizabeth Coffey said discussions with Google are continuing, and that Gresham would like to have additional internet options for its residents, but there is "nothing really concrete in the works or planned at this particular point."

-- Mike Rogoway

mrogoway@oregonian.com

503-294-7699

@rogoway