The Republic | azcentral.com Wed Feb 19, 2014 10:57 PM

Phoenix, Scottsdale and Tempe could be hooked up to an advanced, super-fast fiber-optic Internet network under a plan unveiled Wednesday by Google.



The company has early plans to introduce its Google Fiber service — 100 times faster than basic broadband connections — into more cities over the next few years.



The three Valley cities are among nearly three dozen in nine metro areas Google is looking at to expand its network.



Google would foot the cost of developing the network. The company would not disclose how much it plans to invest.



Mayors of the three cities and other Valley leaders said they are excited about the potential leap forward in technology and what it could mean for residents and economic development.



Facing potential competition, spokesmen for current providers of Internet service in metro Phoenix said they would continue to compete and invest in their networks.



Google is already developing its service in Kansas City, Kan.; Kansas City, Mo.; Austin and Provo, Utah.



Residents are charged $70 monthly for Internet service and $120 for Internet with HD-

television service.



Last year, Bernstein Research estimated that Google has spent $84million developing its fiber-optic network in Kansas City area.



“This is a game-changer for residential service, for business and education,” said Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton. “This will make us much more competitive for the kind of companies we want to attract.”



Google Fiber also would help the cities bridge the so-called digital divide between the more affluent and less affluent by providing free basic Internet service at standard speeds to consumers, Stanton said.



The other metro areas chosen for consideration are Atlanta; Nashville; San Antonio; Salt Lake City; San Jose; Portland, Ore.; and Charlotte and Raleigh-Durham, both in North Carolina.



If selected, Phoenix, Scottsdale and Tempe would join a growing list of U.S. cities that are upgrading from copper to fiber-optic lines for gigabit Internet service. The advance has been compared with the previous innovation to broadband service from dial-up.



Gov. Jan Brewer said Google’s announcement is a “further validation of our ongoing work to make Arizona the best state in the country for high-tech companies to do business.”



Gigabit speeds



Internet speeds are measured in how many bits of data can move along the network per second. The U.S. average is 9.8megabits per second, ranking ninth globally, according to a report from Akamai Technologies, a content-delivery network. South Korea, Japan and Hong Kong are the top three countries.



A gigabit is about 100 times faster than standard broadband service. Google said downloading a movie with its gigabit network takes about seven seconds, compared with a download time of 11minutes for broadband Internet service with a speed of 10 megabits per second.



“We believe that the Internet’s next chapter will be built on gigabit speeds,” said Andrew Silvestri, Google public policy manager.



Kevin Lo, Google Fiber general manager, said everyone wants faster Internet service.



He noted that last week’s debut of the second season of “House of Cards” on Netflix led to a surge of Twitter posts from viewers complaining about interruptions in the viewing experience and buffering of the streaming video.



Other Valley Internet providers report varying Internet speeds. CenturyLink says it offers 12mbps and up to 40 mbps in some areas.



Cox Communications Arizona lists download speeds of 25 mbps and upload speeds of 5 mbps for its residential customers, and up to 10 gigabit connections for its business customers.



Steven Zylstra, Arizona Technology Council president and CEO, said Google Fiber would shake up the current players in the market, but it might spur them to increase their Internet speeds.



“Competition has an interesting way, this kind of disruption, has a way of forcing companies to do what they need to do to be successful,” Zylstra said.



CenturyLink is aware of Google’s feasibility study announcement in some of its markets, spokesman Alex Juarez said.



“We will continue to invest in the markets we serve today in order to provide best-in-class

service,” he said.



CenturyLink provides residential high-speed Internet service with speeds up to 1 gigabit in Omaha, Neb., and Las Vegas.



Cox spokeswoman Andrea Katsenes said the company will “continue to aggressively compete in Arizona” with an array of speed and pricing options.



Next steps



Google Fiber manager Lo said the first step of improving service in Phoenix, Scottsdale and Tempe would involve engineers from Google meeting with key staff in each city to iron out plans and identify any obstacles to the Google Fiber project.



Each of the cities is being asked to provide basic infrastructure information and permitting procedures to Google by May1.



Not all the cities Google identified will be selected for the next round of installation projects. The company expects to announce by the end of this year which cities will be chosen for Google Fiber.



Telecommunications research analyst Donna Jaegers of D.A. Davidson & Co. said she believes “Google’s strategy is to stir the pot” to get other providers to provide fiber-optic networks with higher speeds in other markets.



“I don’t think they want to do the last mile of fiber (to homes) across the United States,” said Jaegers, a Seattle-based analyst.



Google also wants to see what kind of concessions it can get on zoning and utility regulations from local governments, she said.



Google, which declined to say how many Fiber customers it already has, has a mix of underground and above-ground fiber-optic lines. The company prefers above-ground lines because it does not have to tear up roads and disrupt traffic, a Google spokeswoman said.



That could be an issue in metro Phoenix because more new developments have underground utilities.



Stanton said Google has asked the cities to be open-minded about installing the lines above ground.



“We need to find the most efficient way to provide this service,” he said, noting that the Valley cities have to quickly develop the latest Internet infrastructure to be able to attract businesses and jobs.



All three city mayors said Google has not asked for incentives or city investments in the projects.



“We want to show that we’re a city that’s open for business,” said Scottsdale Mayor Jim Lane in explaining his city’s willingness to work with Google and other tech companies.



“We want to make sure the impact is as small as we can make it” with construction along Scottsdale’s roads, he said.



Tempe Mayor Mark Mitchell said this latest opportunity to work with Google is another example of his city improving its infrastructure, including Tempe Town Lake and light rail, for residents and businesses.



Lo said it is difficult to project a timeline for installing the gigabit network since each city has different issues to work out.



Google first announced its plans for a fiber-optic network in 2010 and had more than 1,100 cities express interest in the service.



The Kansas City area was chosen in March 2010 as the first pilot project. Google, based in Mountain View., Calif., started hooking up customers there in November 2012 and is still working to complete installation in some suburbs.



Google acquired a network in Provo and is working its way through neighborhoods there this year to hook up customers.



Google picked Austin in April 2013 and plans to start connecting customers by the end of this year.



Ars Technica, a technology publication, reported that close to two dozen U.S. cities, including Burlington, Vt.; Chattanooga, Tenn.; and Seattle, are in various stages of installing fiber-optic gigabit networks.



Marty Shultz, a long-time lobbyist, Arizona economic-development expert for Arizona Public Service Co. and current senior policy adviser for the Phoenix office of law firm Brownstein Hyatt Farber and Schreck, said he believes the three Valley cities will get Google Fiber, which will further boost the region’s economy.



He predicted that California’s higher cost of living, drought and other issues will lead to more of that state’s companies moving to Arizona over the next few years.



Google Fiber’s city checklist



The company is asking cities chosen for consideration:



To ensure Google, and other providers, can access and lease existing infrastructure. It would be wasteful and disruptive to put up duplicate utility poles or to dig up streets unnecessarily when it could use existing poles or conduit, the company said.



To provide accurate information about infrastructure such as utility poles and existing water, gas and electricity lines. Google wants to know how to efficiently place every foot of fiber.



To make sure they have permit processes suitable for a project of this scale. A company building a large fiber network would need

to submit thousands of construction permits, and city permitting offices must be prepared for that volume of paperwork.

Republic reporters Laurie Merrill, Ryan Randazzo and Catherine Reagor contributed to this article.















