Google Fiber named the city of Lakewood, Colorado as its latest expansion market, adding to recent announcements that it plans to provide service in Mesa, Arizona and Omaha, Nebraska. Lakewood will be the company’s 20th market.
Lakewood is a suburb of Colorado’s capital city, Denver. As of July 2021, U.S. Census Bureau data showed it had approximately 156,605 residents. A Lakewood community resource page for the build noted Google Fiber will begin construction in 2023 and make service available on a rolling basis as network segments are finished. The operator is looking to cover “as many Lakewood households as possible,” the site states.
The operator will be squaring off with existing Lakewood broadband providers Comcast, Lumen (CenturyLink), T-Mobile, Rise Broadband and Viasat, BroadbandNow data shows.
As in other cities it is targeting, Google will build its network within the city’s right of way. A copy of the non-exclusive right of way agreement between Google Fiber and the city was not immediately available since the Deputy City Manager signed off on the deal on Monday and it did not require a vote from the City Council.
“I think adding Google Fiber in Lakewood is a great step in the right direction,” Lakewood Mayor Adam Paul said in a statement. “Internet connectivity is as important as having water and electricity, and we need to ensure we have robust systems in place to serve our residents and our businesses.”
Its move into Lakewood is part of Google Fiber’s broader plan to expand into five new states over the coming years. In addition to the aforementioned markets in Arizona and Nebraska, the company is also targeting Nevada and Idaho but has yet to announce cities in the latter two states.
Google has provided its point-to-point wireless Webpass service in the Denver area since 2017, but this will be its first wireline foray in the state.
Beyond beefing up its footprint, the operator is also looking to boost the speeds on offer to customers. It already provides 1 Gbps and 2 Gbps service options but recently unveiled plans to debut 5-gig and 8-gig tiers in early 2023.
This story has been updated to note that the city has a right of way agreement with Google Fiber, not a license agreement.