Google Gets iProvo Purchase Approval

On April 16, we reported that Provo, Utah would be the next city graced with Google Fiber, followed by a piece last week on its purchase of iProvo, the city's ailing fiber network. The sale was reported to have taken place for $1, but had to wait on a final okay from the Provo Municipal Council. Such approval was given today, but not without stipulations.

According to The Salt Lake Tribune, the deal will go through for the purchase price of $1, addition to being sealed with Google's agreement to a variety of conditions. For its part, Google agrees to upgrade the iProvo network and ensure that all the homes in the city have access to it. For the first seven years, Google also agrees to provide all iProvo homes with free 5-megabit service, and to provide 25 schools and other public institutions with free gigabit service. The network will also be leased to Provo by Google without charge for 15 years.

As such, the citizens of Provo will enjoy free Internet service, but will be paying off the $39 million price tag for the fiber network over the next 12 years in the form of tax dollars. Taking interest into account, that works out to a little over $3 million per year in payments towards the bond. On top of this, Provo is also going to shell out $722,000 towards equipment that allows for continued gigabit use of the network by government operations.

Another half a million will be spent by Provo city under the agreement, a requirement by Google that will go towards paying a firm to locate all the buried fiber optic cables. Reportedly, the company responsible for the network's installation failed to properly maintain records on where all of the cables were laid. This marks the first time Google Fiber will be using an existing network.

[via Salt Lake Tribune]