Google Fiber high-speed net coming to Raleigh-Durham and Charlotte

North Carolina’s Raleigh-Durham and Charlotte metro areas are home to a number of prestigious universities, and are known as “The Research Triangle.” Conventional wisdom says the area would make a great candidate for the installation of Google Fiber, the vaunted high-speed internet service and now speculation is giving way to reality as the network rollout appears imminent.

The two North Carolina locales would join Austin, Texas; Kansas City, Missouri; and Provo, Utah, as the only U.S. municipalities where Google Fiber is available.


Google has sent out “Save the Date” event invitations to media and local officials, and citing sources, WRAL TechWire reported the Mountain View, California-based search giant will make the announcement on January 28 and 29. The outlet also reported crews may begin installing the fiber-optic network “as early as April” and Google was “looking for bids” for the rollout.

“Google has been in active discussions with local government representatives in both Raleigh and Cary about negotiating rights-of-way access and obtaining the zoning needed for the positioning of so-called ‘fiber huts’ that would protect the network’s equipment,” WRAL TechWire reported.

Meanwhile, The Charlotte Observer received an invite, which simply teased “details to come.”
Google Fiber will compete with AT&T, which has also rolled out gigabit Internet service — 100 times faster than usual Internet speeds. AT&T is under contract with a consortium of cities and universities in the area to design the North Carolina Next Generation Network.

Google has not issued an official comment, but Raleigh-Durham and Charlotte were seen as frontrunners for the gigabit network because they were short-listed as potential cities for the service when it was announced last year.