Google is launching experimental fibre broadband networks in several U.S. cities in an effort to push high-speed internet development.
The networks, which will be available to between 50,000 and 500,000 people "at a competitive price," will offer connection speeds up of up to one gigabit per second, or more than 100 times faster than what most Americans have access to today, Google said.
"Our goal is to experiment with new ways to help make internet access better and faster for everyone," said product managers Minnie Ingersoll and James Kelly on the company's blog.
"Network providers are making real progress to expand and improve high-speed internet access, but there's still more to be done. We don't think we have all the answers — but through our trial, we hope to make a meaningful contribution to the shared goal of delivering faster and better internet for everyone."
Google said it will announce the targeted communities later this year after taking requests from state, county and city officials.
"What Google is putting on the table here is so beyond what the typical North American consumer is used to. It could dramatically reshape the industry," he said.
Such an experiment will be unlikely in Canada, however. Google likely has dark fibre in Canada to serve its capacity needs here, but any attempt to provide telecommunications services would run into legal problems. Restrictions require any infrastructure-owning telecom service provider to be majority Canadian owned and controlled.
Jacob Glick, Google's policy counsel in Canada, said he didn't "see why not" the company couldn't try the experiment here if the ownership restrictions weren't in place.
Geist said Google's experiment is likely to add further pressure on the federal government to lift the foreign ownership restrictions.
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