Why everyone wants Google's high-speed Internet access

To try to ensure that the United States keeps pace, the Obama administration has made broadband access a national priority and Congress has approved $7.2 billion to expand high-speed networks. In the National Broadband Plan, which the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) released in March, the government aims to spur competition among broadband providers and to push connection speeds to 100 Mbps for at least 100 million US households by 2020.

"Broadband is indispensable infrastructure for the 21st century," said FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski at a recent press conference to promote the broadband initiative. "It's already becoming the foundation of our economy and our democracy."

While major broadband providers in the US invested some $60 billion last year to upgrade their networks, critics blame sluggish yet expensive broadband services on the lack of consumer choice in the Internet service provider (ISP) marketplace. The FCC seems to agree: Increased competition for broadband is a theme that runs through its plan.

Google's move into broadband, these critics say, could compel some providers to bulk up their networks. Google says it doesn't intend to stay in the ISP business, but rather wants to learn from building a fiber-to-the-home network and to share that knowledge with the industry.

Of course, Google stands to gain in the long run. The more that people are online with faster connections, the more likely they are to connect with Google – and to help Google establish a base for new online ventures.

Still, Google will build the new network at no cost to the winning city. In making its choice, the company will assess, among other things, "the level of community support, local resources, weather conditions, approved construction methods and local regulatory issues," writes Google's Ms. Ingersoll.

It's classic research and development, says PFIR's Mr. Weinstein, in the vein of the old Bell Laboratories. "They want to push the industry, even by demonstrating that this is practical and what sorts of costs are involved in doing it," he says.

But the pilot project has its limits. While Google's pockets are deep enough to push the bounds of broadband expansion (it recorded $6.5 billion in profits in 2009), telecom firms that still use copper lines for Internet service may find that bringing fiber-optic cable to homes is too big a financial burden. Verizon Communications, which spent $23 billion on its fiber-optic FiOS network for 18 million homes, recently said it is slowing down the expansion of its high-speed service.

"We understand that much work is being done to expand and improve broadband service ... but there's more work to be done," writes Ingersoll. "We're not pretending to have all the answers here. Our goal is to make a meaningful contribution to the shared goal of delivering better and faster Internet for everyone."

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