Officials with Google announced Wednesday that Salt Lake City is on a list of nine cities where the company wants to expand its ultra-high speed network called Fiber. It would be the same system that residents of Provo are now signing up for. Michael Slinger is the director of business operations for Google. He says the announcement only marks the beginning of a six to nine month process.
“…and building a brand new fiber network is hard work…but it’s worth it. We need to make sure beforehand that we can do so effectively and efficiently," Slinger says. "So we’re going to be working with the city and looking at things such as the existing conduit. Is there conduit in the city that we can use to bring our fiber through?”
Salt Lake City Mayor Ralph Becker promised an open and transparent system throughout the entire assessment process.
“What this would mean to our community is enormous. Fiber today is what water and sewer and other basic infrastructure was in the 20th century. It is the key to creating a 21st century community,” says Becker.
He says the city will have regular updates on the progress. He says residents are encouraged to engage with city leaders as the process moves forward.
The Google Fiber Network brings home and businesses internet speeds up to 100 times faster than current average speeds. Download and uploading speeds are the same. Television services are also offered to users.
