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Utah faints: Google Fiber to lay cable in thrilling Salt Lake City

Sales execs from AT&T, Comcast are already in the air

Google has confirmed it will roll out its Fiber broadband service in the Mormon heartland of Salt Lake City.

The powerful California advertising giant said the Utah capital will join its neighbor Provo in offering gigabit internet connections to citizens. We assume AT&T and Comcast are already on their way over to offer a rival service.

"Salt Lake has more than breathtaking mountain vistas and fantastic ski slopes," Google said in announcing the move. "It also hosts a booming technology sector, world-renowned universities and a vibrant local culture."

A load of tech companies including adware-touting software house Superfish, biosciences firm Crescendo, and telco Acacia Communications, are headquartered in Salt Lake City (SLC).

The metropolis shortlisted last year for Fiber rollouts. The search king said it will start work on rolling out high-speed broadband in SLC in "the coming months," with no word given on an official launch date.

The service typically costs $70 per month for gigabit internet, and $130 for internet and TV. A free 5Mbps service is available, though customers have to pay a $300 installation fee.

Google has announced deployments of Fiber in the southeastern US cities of Charlotte, Nashville, Raleigh-Durham and Atlanta.

The FTC-terrifying biz has said Fiber cities are generally those who are willing to help Google lay its fiber cable network. Provo, for example, won its service by handing over fiber already in place.

Notably absent from the list of Fiber winners is the west coast of the US. Though cities such as San Jose and Portland were named as Fiber finalists, Google has left both the Oregon hipster hub and Silicon Valley's capital out of its plans for the gigabit service. ®

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