Google Incorporated announced Wednesday it would build a superfast broadband network in several U.S. communities to experiment with the possibility of a network running at 100 times current speeds. The internet-search giant has long argued that it could sell more online advertising (the way it earns money) by encouraging more internet use. It imagines three-dimensional conferencing and classes, faster movie downloads, and new businesses taking advantage of superfast speeds. Google said it would use fiber-optic lines to the home, the same technology used by many telecommunications companies, but it declined to provide details about whether it would build, purchase, or rent such services and how much the project would cost. “We'll deliver internet speeds more than 100 times faster than what most Americans have access to today with 1gigabit per second, fiber-to-the-home connections,” Google product managers Minnie Ingersoll and James Kelly wrote. Ingersoll said that once established, Google wanted the project to become an open-access network where the internet giant would offer wholesale access and other businesses could offer retail services on the network. Google said it would offer the service at a “competitive price” to at least 50,000 and up to 500,000 people in a small number of locations in the United States. The company did not say what prices would be for consumers or when the high-speed broadband network would debut. Google asked cities and states interested in joining the experiment to apply to the company by March 26. The U.S. government immediately welcomed Google's experiment, with Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Julius Genachowski saying “big broadband creates big opportunities.”
