Google Fiber announced Monday it will be coming to Huntsville, Ala., but – in a change of strategy from previous offerings – said it won’t be building its own fiber network in the city.
The move marks a change of strategy for Google, which has heretofore built out its own fiber networks in select cities across the country.
“To date, we’ve built the majority of our Google Fiber networks from scratch,” Google Fiber’s Director of Expansion Jill Szuchmacher wrote in a Monday blog post. “But over the past five years, we’ve repeatedly seen that every city is unique…Now, due to the leadership of the Mayor and Huntsville Utilities CEO Jay Stowe, we’ll be working with a muni-owned network to bring our high speed service to Huntsville.”
Google said the decision to bring its services to Huntsville was sparked by a 2014 initiative in which the city’s leaders announced plans to build a municipal-owned high-speed fiber network capable of delivering Internet speeds of 100 mbps to 1 gbps.
Following the announcement, city officials asked Internet services providers interested in a partnership to reach out. So Google Fiber did just that.
Once the city’s network buildout is complete, Google Fiber said it will deliver its service over the municipal-owned network via a lease agreement with the city and Huntsville Utilities, who will construct the network.
The Huntsville Utilities board of directors will vote on the Google Fiber lease agreement tomorrow, according to a press release from the office of Huntsville Mayor Tommy Battle.
“Google’s entrance into our market bolsters our high-tech legacy, energizes our entrepreneurs, tinkers and engineers, and supports the high quality of life Huntsville is known for delivering,” Battle said in a statement. “Fiber to the home is the Internet infrastructure for the 21st century. It is as vital to our quality of life as roads, water, sewer and electricity. It will become the benchmark for cities vying for talent. “
The roll out would make Huntsville the tenth city to offer Google Fiber services, along with Kansas City, Mo., Provo, Utah and Austin, Texas, with upcoming roll outs planned in Salt Lake City, Utah, San Antonio, Texas, Nashville, Tenn., Atlanta, Ga., Charlotte, N.C., and Raleigh-Durham, N.C.
Google has also said it is eyeing deployments of its internet service in eleven other cities, including Portland, Ore., Los Angeles, Calif., Tampa, Fla. And Chicago, Ill.
Earlier this month, Google Fiber announced plans to offer free gigabit Internet service to low-income residents in select public housing buildings in each of the cities where it currently operates. The first activation of the service occurred in 100 homes at the West Bluff public housing property in Kansas City, Mo. on Feb. 3, the company said.
During Alphabet’s fourth quarter earnings call at the start of February, Alphabet CFO Ruth Porat revealed that the majority of the company’s $869 million in Other Bets capital expenditures for 2015 went to the continued rollout of Google Fiber.
Porat said Google Fiber would continue to be a driver of Other Bets capital spending going forward, but noted Google Fiber was one of the three main revenue-producing ventures in the Other Bets segment.