Google Fiber continues to plot out its prospective Portland fiber network, quietly signing deals to access tens of thousands of local utility poles.

Portland General Electric and Pacific Power both say they have recently reached agreements with Google Fiber to allow the company to string its fiber-optic cables. That's a key step toward deploying the network.

Update, March 10: CenturyLink, a potential rival which also owns a large number of utility poles in Portland, says it does not yet have an agreement with Google Fiber but adds "We continue to work on the pole attachment agreement with Google and intend to have a final agreement in the near future."

Google Fiber has been contemplating offering hyperfast Internet service in the Portland area for two years. A 2014 Oregon Supreme Court ruling sidetracked the project by making the company subject to an unusual Oregon tax, but state utility regulators just signed off on a tax exemption for Google Fiber that may clear the way for the project.

Last month, with the tax ruling pending, Google Fiber Portland manager Chris Taylor said the company is "making progress" in the city and hopes to provide an update "soon."

If Google intends to proceed, the company faces the formidable task of building its network. The city of Portland has estimated it would cost the company $300 million to install its fiber network, and including suburban communities would add substantially to the total cost.

Google Fiber has been talking since last fall with city planners about putting "fiber huts" in a half-dozen locations around the city to power its network. City officials said the company did not pursue the subject for most of the winter, but have resumed talks recently.

Meanwhile, Google Fiber scheduled a meeting with at least one neighborhood association to talk about mapping out its Portland network. The company scheduled a presentation last week with the Hillsdale Neighborhood Association about its fiber-optic plan, but the association said Google Fiber's representative did not show up to make the scheduled presentation.

Eighty percent of Portland's power, phone and cable TV lines run overhead on utility poles. Other cities, including Beaverton, run most of their utilities underground. Overhead lines are much cheaper to install because they use existing poles.

PGE and Pacific Power both say they reached agreements with Google Fiber in recent weeks but didn't report terms of the agreement. PGE spokesman Steve Corson said Google Fiber has an umbrella agreement to access the utility poles, but will need to submit requests to use each individual pole, specifying the equipment it plans to install.

Google Fiber offers fast Internet connections of 1-gigabit per second, 40 times faster than the federal broadband standard. In other markets it charges $70 a month for service, and an additional $65 for a cable TV subscription.

Since Google Fiber first announced interest in serving Portland, CenturyLink, Frontier and Comcast have each announced their own gigabit services, though all charge more than Google Fiber does - sometimes substantially more. Frontier and Comcast sought the same tax break created for Google Fiber and state utility regulators voted last week to approve their applications.

-- Mike Rogoway

mrogoway@oregonian.com

503-294-7699

@rogoway