McGinn swiftly agrees to Google fast-broadband test

Seattle is jumping on Google's offer to build a few small but superfast broadband networks around the country, Mayor Mike McGinn's office said Thursday.

The city has spent years hashing over ways to extend fiber-optic broadband service to homes, and McGinn pledged to pursue citywide broadband.

A statement from McGinn's office said the city will "actively seek to partner with Google."

Competition will be intense for the Google projects, which will reach a maximum of 500,000 homes nationwide. By late Thursday, barely a day after Google's announcement, more than a dozen cities had already applied, a company spokesman said.

If Seattle is chosen, Google would serve a small portion of the city, and most residents would still be left with slower service provided by Qwest, Comcast and Broadstripe.

Google's move comes as the federal government is pursuing improved broadband and considering policies on network access.

What cities would get is unclear, beyond the tantalizing promise of 1 gigabit per second fiber-optic service. Google isn't saying what it will provide, how much it will charge and what obligations cities would face. Cities have until March 26 to apply and the company will respond later in the year.

"Our focus right now is on identifying the right community partners," the company said in a statement.

Bill Schrier, Seattle's chief technology officer, called it a "longshot" but said it's worth trying.

Pursuing the Google experiment won't delay Seattle's effort to build a citywide fiber network that provides everyone with fast service, Schrier said, because the city is still developing a plan for that project.

Brier Dudley: 206-515-5687 or bdudley@seattletimes.com