Portland is one of three markets left wondering if/when the super fast Internet service will come to town.
BY JACOB PALMER | DIGITAL NEWS EDITOR
Google Fiber announced in 2014 that Portland was one of nine markets the company targeted for expansion.
Now it is one of three markets left wondering if/when the super fast Internet service will be launched.
One issue was a thorny Oregon property tax issue, resolved last spring when state lawmakers created a special tax exemption for gigabit Internet speeds, like those Google proposes. A gigabit connection is 1,000 megabits per second, 40 times faster than the current broadband standard.
Google Fiber appears to be working its way west. It has already announced expansion plans in two markets in North Carolina, along with Atlanta, Nashville and Salt Lake City. No city on the West Coast currently has the service.
(SOURCE: OregonLive.com)
Portland remains in limbo.
After the San Antonio news spokeswoman Kelly Mason had this to say in an email: “We are still working closely with Portland and making good progress as we continue to explore bringing Fiber to the region. We hope to have an update on progress later this year.”
Google has remained tight lipped about where a Portland decision stands. The company has even noted in blog posts that any job listings doesn’t necessarily mean the service is coming.
(SOURCE: Portland Business Journal)
Food for thought: With Frontier, CenturyLink and Comcast already offering or implementing their own high speed Internet service, why should we care about Google Fiber?
RELATED NEWS: Google Fiber seeks plant manager in Portland; Comcast plans Internet service twice as fast as Google Fiber; Gov. Brown signs tax bill to woo Google Fiber; CenturyLink makes inroads to Portland; Google Fiber delayed
