What happened?: Travis County approved a license agreement with Google Fiber at a March 7 meeting that will increase affordable internet access to unincorporated areas of the county.
Google Fiber is already available in several neighborhoods in precincts 1 and 2, and is starting to file permits for precincts 3 and 4. The county will receive 1% of the gross revenue generated from the Google Fiber installations.
“Access to fast, reliable, fairly priced open internet is no longer a luxury. It’s very difficult if not impossible to fully participate in our economy, our democracy, our society without access,” said John-Michael Cortez, government and community affairs manager at Google Fiber.
The impact: Cortez said one of the big benefits Google Fiber brings to communities is competition.
