The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Google is soliciting for pilot cities to participate in an ultra-high speed Google Internet service trial with select municipalities. Google says that they will pay for it, and it will provide Internet speeds at 1Gbps – 100 times (or more) faster than your home Internet connection you may be using to read this article. If you’re an Alameda resident who cried over the demise of Alameda Power & Telecom’s telecom division, this is your chance.
According to the Journal “Google is requesting input from interested cities by March 26 and plans to announce those selected and other details later this year.” They’ve also pledged to “foot the bill” for the trials, and accept no government subsidies. (Take that, SunCal!) If anyone has the money for this, it’s Google. On January 21, 2010, the company reported 4th quarter earnings for 2009 – Google reported revenues of $6.67 billion for the quarter ended December 31, 2009, an increase of 17% compared to the fourth quarter of 2008. Annualized, that figure means that Google enjoys $20 billion to $30 billion in revenue per year.
If you like the idea of an Internet service in Alameda that is an alternative to Comcast and SBC – without the hangover that resulted from past deals – you might consider asking City Council to submit a proposal to Google. We’d get behind this so long as Google genuinely does pay for everything and it doesn’t cost taxpayers a cent.
Google says they want to hear from interested cities by March 26th.
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