Google to Offer 1Gbit/s Fiber in Austin Next Year and… So Will AT&T

Well well well. Things are beginning to get a little interesting in the 1Gbit/s Internet game. As has been covered before, Google launched the US’ first consumer 1Gbit/s Internet option last fall, and so far, consumer response has been outstanding. For its next move, Google will be moving into Austin, Texas, as announced yesterday. Pricing is to be announced, but the packages that those in Kansas City enjoy will be carried on over.

Interestingly, mere hours after Google’s announcement, AT&T shot out a press release which stated that it’ll also be offering 1Gbit/s Internet to Austin soon:

“Today, AT&T announced that in conjunction with its previously announced Project VIP expansion of broadband access, it is prepared to build an advanced fiber optic infrastructure in Austin, Texas, capable of delivering speeds up to 1 gigabit per second. AT&T’s expanded fiber plans in Austin anticipate it will be granted the same terms and conditions as Google on issues such as geographic scope of offerings, rights of way, permitting, state licenses and any investment incentives. This expanded investment is not expected to materially alter AT&T’s anticipated 2013 capital expenditures.“

There’s no denying who AT&T is looking to disrupt with this move, so it seems the company figured it might as well name-drop. We saw the same thing happen last week with Virgin Mobile reaching out to T-Mobile’s customers, offering them a $100 incentive to move on over. Oh what fun these petty displays are.

Funny as they may be, this is bound to benefit customers in the end. It was only a matter of time before an ISP would finally respond to Google’s seriously attractive offerings, and with AT&T headquartered in Texas, was it really going to let Google come in and mess up its territory? I think not.

Some have worried that AT&T’s offerings wouldn’t be that attractive, but according to the blurb above, it seems that the company is willing to go verbatim with Google’s checklist. Given the fact that AT&T already has an infrastructure in place, it could potentially beat Google to this punch.

Any other ISP out there want to join in on the fun?