The west end of an eastbound rabbit.
Today looks like the day we’ll find out where Google Fiber’s next cities will be. Rumors have been swirling for a couple of days and went from fuzzy to sharp yesterday when Google sent out invitations for press events in several cities, with no particular purpose stated. So far, it looks like the winners are going to be in the southeastern U.S.
Newspapers and websites in the Atlanta, Georgia area report receiving a message saying “You’re invited to join city leaders and Google for a press conference tomorrow, January 27 at 1 p.m. to learn more about what’s in store for the people of Metro Atlanta. We won’t be able to share any specific details until tomorrow’s event” (h/t to Fred Pilot at the Eldo Telecom blog for the heads up).
It’s a similar story in the Charlotte and Raleigh-Durham areas in North Carolina and in Nashville, Tennessee. Press conferences have been scheduled there over the next three days.
The Wall Street Journal is also identifying those four markets as Google’s picks, citing unnamed sources.
It’s been nearly a year since Google released a list of 34 cities in nine metro areas as fiber-to-the-home candidates. The four southeastern metros account for 18 of the cities, although there’s no way to tell yet if all made the final cut.
No news yet regarding the five Silicon Valley cities – San Jose, Santa Clara, Sunnyvale, Mountain View and Palo Alto – but the Wall Street Journal article doesn’t offer much hope of good news anytime soon…
David Vossbrink, a spokesman for the city of San Jose, said a Google Fiber official told him Monday that Google would be announcing expansion cities beginning Tuesday. “The message was that these announcements should not be considered the end of the road for the other areas,” Mr. Vossbrink said.
Likewise, there’s no word on Portland, San Antonio, Salt Lake City or Phoenix.