Huge Demand for Google Ultra High-Speed Broadband

Google’s ambitious plan to test deployment of an “ultra high-speed broadband network” in select markets has resulted in more than 190,000 individual and over 600 community requests to participate, as the responses pour in just hours ahead of Friday’s deadline for site proposals.

When Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) unveiled the plan last month, it said it planned to offer the fiber broadband service at a competitive price to at least 50,000 people, but potentially up to 500,000 people, and it asked for interested cities and communities to submit proposals.

The reason for the massive response in Google’s broadband networks — some communities have even renamed themselves to attract the search giant’s interest, and there have been numerous YouTube pitches — is easy to understand. Google said the small number of ultra high-speed networks in the U.S. will deliver Internet speeds more than 100 times faster than what most Americans have access to today, with 1 gigabit per second, fiber-to-the-home connections.

The fiber plan is similar to earlier moves by Google to promote wider access to the Internet; for example, Google offers free Wi-Fi to residents in Mountain View, Calif., where the company has its headquarters.

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