Consumer advocacy groups praised Google for saying Wednesday it’s considering installing...

Consumer advocacy groups praised Google for saying Wednesday it’s considering installing Google Fiber in as many as 34 more cities (CD Feb 20 p14). It will mean “more communities across the country may soon have increased options for home fiber Internet access,” said Sarah Morris, senior policy counsel at New America’s Open Technology Institute, in a statement Wednesday (http://bit.ly/1fCqQD2). “While no single series of deployments can solve the major broadband competition problem that we face in the U.S. -- particularly in light of the announced intended consolidation of the two largest cable broadband providers -- this is a positive step for a handful of communities across the country.” Comcast agreed last week to buy Time Warner Cable for about $45 billion. “There’s still much work to be done in fixing the digital divide that continues to thwart ubiquitous communications access in low-income and rural communities,” said Morris. “Any time there’s a prospect that Internet users anywhere might have better service, it’s good news,” said Public Knowledge senior staff attorney John Bergmayer http://bit.ly/OeFCdo). “Google’s announcement puts lie to the often-repeated claim that Americans somehow simply don’t want or don’t need better broadband service. ... When incumbents fail to invest in their networks and opt instead for a strategy of ‘harvesting’ their existing networks and collecting high bills for bad service, new entrants like Google have a chance to come in and replace them. This is especially true as newer network technologies, like fiber to the home, mature and show they are able to provide better service than copper-based service.” Bergmayer said Google should be pushed to provide service to low-income communities.