Haipai's Blog

March 26 (Bloomberg) — Google Inc., planning to build a local broadband network as a test project, has received more than 600 responses from communities interested in the effort.

More than 190,000 individuals also have requested information, Google said today on its blog. The company announced plans last month to build a fiber-optic network that would serve between 50,000 and 500,000 people, providing connections that are 100 times faster than current networks.

“As we narrow down our choices, we’ll be conducting site visits, meeting with local officials and consulting with third- party organizations,” James Kelly, a product manager, said in the blog posting. “Based on a rigorous review of the data, we will announce our target community or communities by the end of the year.”

The proposed network set off a frenzy of lobbying by cities and towns across the U.S., with some holding rallies and sending gifts to Google’s headquarters. Topeka temporarily changed its named to Google, Kansas, to curry favor with the company.

After urging the Federal Communications Commission to expand broadband access, Google is developing the network to show the potential of high-speed Internet service. The company already offers a wireless network in its hometown of Mountain View, California. It’s also an investor in Clearwire Corp., which uses a high-speed wireless technology called WiMax to provide Internet access.

Google fell 19 cents to $562.69 at 4 p.m. New York time in Nasdaq Stock Market trading. The shares have dropped 9.2 percent this year.

–By Brian Womack

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This entry was posted on 星期日, 三月 28th, 2010 at 11:17 上午 and is filed under Global. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.