Google Fiber sent representatives to Oregon this week to meet with Portland-area cities where it's contemplating bringing its hyperfast Internet service, but gave no indication when it might make a decision.

"They said they're back on track to look at expanding their fiber service in the area," said Lake Oswego city manager Scott Lazenby, who met with the company Wednesday. "They didn't have a specific timeframe."

Google Fiber announced in February 2014 that the Portland area was among nine metro areas across the country where it might expand. It has since confirmed plans to begin service in five of those areas, but Oregon is still waiting.

Google Fiber offers cable TV and Internet service of 1 gigabit per second - 40 times faster than the current definition for broadband service. It's contemplating service in Portland, Gresham, Tigard, Lake Oswego, Beaverton and Hillsboro.

An Oregon Supreme Court ruling threw Google's plans into doubt last fall. The court ruled that an unusual Oregon tax methodology, which assesses a company's property tax liability based partly on the value of the company's brand, applied to telecommunications companies like Google Fiber.

Google said that ruling made the state prohibitively expensive for its service, so Oregon lawmakers created a specific exemption for "gigabit" service providers last month.

Now, it appears Google is giving Portland and its suburbs a fresh look. The company declined to comment, but Lazenby said they discussed various issues around the service, including a potential franchise agreement with the city.

Google Fiber already has a franchise agreement in Portland. Officials in Tigard and Gresham didn't respond to messages seeking comment on their discussions with Google, but Lazenby said his understanding is that meetings took place with various local governments on Wednesday and Thursday.

In Hillsboro, the city said officials were unable to coordinate schedules for a meeting with Google but hope to talk with the company soon. Hillsboro is studying the possibility of building its own, municipal fiber-optic network to bring fast Internet service to businesses and residents.

Lake Oswego is evaluating a similar possibility. Lazenby said the city met this week with five companies - CenturyLink, Wave Broadband, OFS, Fibersphere and SiFi Networks - to discuss options.

"We'll have a decision on whether it's going to be feasible or not by the end of 2015," Lazenby said. He said Google didn't object to a city-run network and indicated that its underlying goal is faster Internet service, regardless of who provides it.

Google makes its money primarily by selling online ads, and the company hopes faster Internet connections could enable new digital services and more places to place ads.

In the 15 months since Google Fiber announced it might come to the Portland area, CenturyLink, Comcast and Frontier Communications have all increased their local Internet speeds. CenturyLink and Frontier now offer gigabit service to parts of their local markets, and Comcast says it will offer 2 gigabit service in some parts of the country this year.

CenturyLink also began offering cable TV service in parts of Portland earlier this week.

-- Mike Rogoway

mrogoway@oregonian.com

503-294-7699

@rogoway