Omaha and Council Bluffs are expected to file a joint application to become a test site for Google's new broadband network.
Council Bluffs Mayor Tom Hanafan and Omaha Mayor Jim Suttle had several meetings and discussions, after which, Hanafan said, they decided it was in the metropolitan area's best interest to join forces.
Hanafan worked with Google officials when the Mountain View, Calif., company decided to build a $600 million data center on 55 acres northwest of U.S. Highway 275 and South 11th Street in Council Bluffs. Having a prior relationship gives the metro area an advantage, he said.
“It's more of a plus,” he said.
However, a Google spokesman said last month that cities will compete on a level playing field. The company's data center in Council Bluffs doesn't mean the metro area will have an advantage, he said.
Ron Gerard, a spokesman for Suttle, said working with Council Bluffs expands the mayor's agenda for regional cooperation and “better positions us to be successful.”
Google said its network will deliver Internet speeds at more than 1 gigabit per second, more than 100 times faster than what most Americans have access to.
The company said it hopes to have “one or more” trial locations with populations between 50,000 and 500,000. According to the most recent Census figures, Omaha's population is approximately 439,000. Council Bluffs' population is around 60,000.
The deadline for cities to file applications is March 26, and many cities already have done so.
The competition to land a Google test site has fueled a one-upmanship of publicity efforts among some cities.
For example, the mayor of Topeka, Kan., this week signed a proclamation stating that the city would be known as “Google, Kansas — the capital city of fiber optics” during March.
That drew a swift, clever YouTube video response from Duluth, Minn.
In the clip, a man posing as the Duluth mayor promises, speaking in a caricature of a Minnesota accent, that, unlike Topeka, Duluth will not change its name.
Instead, every firstborn boy in Duluth will be named Google Fiber and every firstborn girl will be named Googlette Fiber.
Contact the writer:
444-1414, ross.boettcher@owh.com
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