Some Kansas City public housing residents now have access to Google Fiber's ultra-high-speed gigabit internet services free of charge. The Fiber folks pledged to expand the program to all Google Fiber cities.
Alphabet, the parent company which split off of and now owns Google, partnered with the Obama administration internet access initiative ConnectHome in July.
The partnership promised free internet in public housing. On Wednesday, Alphabet announced in a blog post that it had delivered. Residents of West Bluff, a Kansas City public housing property, can now sign up to have gigabit internet delivered into their homes. The Kansas City Housing Authority will offer affordable devices and skills training to residents.
This is a big deal, made bigger by the fact that as many as twenty cities could have Google Fiber in the future.
Broadband access is a crucial resource often denied to poor families. Americans without broadband report concern over access to education, jobs, healthcare, and government resources, as we've seen in our past reporting on the widening broadband gap. For poor city populations this program could be a godsend. However, it's worth noting that it won't impact the millions of Americans who lack broadband because quality, affordable services have not yet reached their region.
On February 28, Axel Springer, Business Insider's parent company, joined 31 other media groups and filed a $2.3 billion suit against Google in Dutch court, alleging losses suffered due to the company's advertising practices.
