Google to acquire Provo, Utah’s fiber, transform it into Google Fiber

Less than 10 days after announcing that Austin will be Google Fiber’s second city (Kansas City, KS and MO, and surrounding small towns qualified as Google’s first), the company announced suddenly that Provo, Utah will become the “third Google Fiber City.”

Interestingly, Google isn’t laying its own fiber this time, but rather purchasing an existing network.

“In order to bring Fiber to Provo, we’ve signed an agreement to purchase iProvo, an existing fiber-optic network owned by the city,” the company wrote in a blog post. “As a part of the acquisition, we would commit to upgrade the network to gigabit technology and finish network construction so that every home along the existing iProvo network would have the opportunity to connect to Google Fiber. Our agreement with Provo isn’t approved yet—it’s pending a vote by the City Council scheduled for next Tuesday, April 23. We intend to begin the network upgrades as soon as the closing conditions are satisfied and the deal is closed.”

The third-largest city (population: around 112,000) in Utah began building its own municipal fiber network in 2004, but was looking to sell it by 2011, because like other similar municipal networks, it was simply too expensive to operate. (For the more conspiracy-minded, Provo is also about 27 miles outside a massive National Security Agency data center that is set to be completed this year.)

“The solution [selling iProvo] is painful but the right thing to do,” the mayor, John Curtis, wrote in 2011. “We need to pay our debt. Each and every Provo resident, regardless of intent, picked up an obligation to repay the $39,000,000 bond when the network was built. What is your portion? Right now it is still too early to give an exact amount. However, the bond payment divided by the number of residences and businesses equals $7.65 per month for the next 15 years. I am as aware as anyone of the difficulty this will cause in some households. We may not like the fact that we have this payment, but part of our culture is that we live up to our obligations and face the facts. It’s the right thing to do. I think it’s time to move on. As I said, in addition to the many benefits we’ve realized from the network, there’s potential for even more. Let’s go find them and turn this problem into an opportunity.”

UPDATE 9:00pm CT: According to the Salt Lake Tribune, Google is only paying $1 for the entire network, in exchange for upgrading it and incorporating the remaining two-thirds of city residents that are not connected to it. Google will also provide a free lower-tier option (as it has in other cities) and free access to public facilities (as it also has in other cities). However, as the newspaper reported: “Provo taxpayers still will have to make $3.3 million in bond payments on the system each year for the next 12 years, even though Google will own the network.”