Google: No FTTH testbed choice this year

DECEMBER 15, 2010 By Stephen Hardy -- If you’ve been holding your breath waiting for Google to announce where it will launch its much anticipated fiber to the home (FTTH) test bed, be prepared to turn blue. The company today revealed that it will not announce the Google FTTH testbed partner community or communities by its self-imposed deadline of year end.

However, the company did take a step forward in its FTTH pursuits by hiring Milo Medin, co-founder of pioneering residential broadband services provider @Home Networks, to head these efforts as vice president, access services. Medin announced the decision delay in a blog post on the Google site today. He also revealed he had been on the job less than a week.

Medin cited the number of responses Google received from parties interested in participating in the FTTH testbed demonstration project as the reason for delay (see "Google evaluates FTTH submissions"). Medin called the response level “incredible” and said it had exceeded Google’s expectations.

“To be clear, we’re not re-opening our selection process—we simply need more time to decide than we’d anticipated. Stay tuned for an announcement in early 2011,” he wrote.

In an interview with the San Jose Mercury News, Medlin said that sifting through factors such as rights of way access and permitting also had complicated the decision process.

Meanwhile, observers will look to the beta network Google announced it will build near the campus of Stanford University (see “Google to trial FTTH at Stanford”). Google recently announced that Sonic.net will run the network. The ISP will manage network operation, provide customer service and support and perform on-site installation and repair.