Google Fiber, the Alphabet division targeted on providing high-speed web entry within the US, has bold plans to increase its fiber companies within the subsequent three to 5 years, the company announced in a blog post. It desires to launch fiber companies in 5 new states, which embrace beforehand introduced plans to enter Arizona and Colorado, in addition to Nebraska, Nevada, and Idaho. In whole, Reuters reports that Google Fiber hopes to increase to 22 metro areas, from 17 as we speak.

It’s an enormous turnaround from 2016, when the enterprise reportedly layed off 9 percent of its workforce and paused plans to launch companies in over half a dozen cities. In subsequent years, stories emerged that the corporate was canceling a whole bunch of installations in present metro areas like Kansas City, and left Louisville, Kentucky fully after an ill-fated experiment with laying fiber cabling in ultra-shallow trenches.

Now, nonetheless, it appears the corporate is able to develop, with its CEO Dinni Jain telling Reuters that the staff is able to “add a little bit more build velocity.” Its launch in West Des Moines, Iowa in March was its first new state in 5 years, and the next month it mentioned it will be expanding to Des Moines. Reuters notes that Google Fiber did extra constructing in 2021 than in “the previous few years combined.”

Despite his hopes to regain momentum, Jain says Google Fiber’s ambitions are modest. “There was an impression 10 years ago that Google Fiber was trying to build the entire country,” he advised Reuters. “What we are gesturing here is, ‘No, we are not trying to build the entire country.’” As properly as increasing into the brand new states, Jain’s weblog submit says enlargement will proceed in present metro areas.

Google Fiber dates again to 2010, and was initially launched to hep drive the adoption of sooner web speeds at decrease price, partly by providing it immediately, and partly by pressuring incumbent US suppliers to compete. As a former Time Warner government, Jain says he felt the strain from Google immediately. “We were so paranoid,” he tells Reuters.

News of Google Fiber’s enlargement plans comes at a time of belt-tightening at Google and throughout the tech business extra usually. Last month the corporate introduced a two-week hiring freeze whereas it reviewed its headcount wants, making it the newest tech big to take inventory amidst a worsening financial local weather. Alphabet has additionally been extra keen to shutter experimental initiatives in recent times. It shut down its balloon web service Loon final 12 months, and wound down its vitality kite division in 2020.

“The intent is to build businesses that will be successful in and of their own right and that is what we are trying to do at Google Fiber for sure,” Jain tells Reuters.