Provo, Utah is known for a few things: It's the state's third largest city, is home to Brigham Young University and a burgeoning tech scene, and ranks second in the U.S. for patent growth. All in all, it sounds like a down right decent place to live, and Google just helped make it even more attractive.
The firm revealed via a blog post today that Provo will be its third Google Fiber City, taking the company's broadband ambitions to what it's calling the Silicon Slopes. Clever, Google.
However, a deal to bring one gigabit web to Utah isn't set in stone. There's a city council vote going down April 23 to approve the agreement. If and when a deal is closed and conditions are good to go, Google plans to start the necessary network upgrades to expand Fiber to the Beehive State.
It was only last week that Google brought Austin, Texas onboard its magical ride towards hyper-connectivity, and the alacrity at which the firm is laying out agreements leaves us expecting more fiber announcements are coming sooner rather than later.
You had me at Fiber
To get Fiber rolling in Provo, Google signed an agreement to purchase iProvo, an existing fiber-optic network the city owns.
The small print of the acquisition includes a commitment by Google to upgrade the existing network with gigabit tech and finish network build out.
Google said it's prepared to offer free 5Mbps internet to every home on the existing Provo network for a $30 activation fee (a charge that's significantly less than in other Google Fiber cities) and with no payments for seven years.
It also plans to offer normal Fiber Gigabit internet and the option for Google Fiber TV to Provoans while also hooking up 25 public institutions with the service for free. While there was no mention of rates, we expect those to fall in line with what we've seen in Kansas City.
The city is in many respects way ahead of the web speed curve. It started building its city network in 2004 and in 2011 tried to lockdown a partner to take it over. Google, it seems, was the right fit for a city that's on the up and up.
