With the holidays approaching, Chapel Hill and Carrboro could receive the gift of a new high-speed Internet network.
Google announced plans in February to select a small number of locations nationwide to test a new fiber network, which the company claims will be more than 100 times faster than what most residents currently use.
Google spokesman Dan Martin said the company is close to completing their selection process and will announce the trial locations by the end of the year.
Martin said the new Internet speeds will be delivered via a 1 gigabit per second, fiber-to-the-home connection.
Chapel Hill and Carrboro are among approximately 1,100 communities that have applied to become home to the new network.
“We’re interested in deploying our network efficiently and quickly,” Martin said. “And we are hoping to identify interested communities that will work with us to achieve this goal.”
Martin said Google will identify “one or more” communities in which the trial network will reach at least 50,000 people and as many as 500,000 people.
Chapel Hill Mayor Mark Kleinschmidt said he is hopeful that the town will be chosen.
“Chapel Hill and Carrboro make up the kind of community where Google could demonstrate some success quickly,” he said. “There was a lot of community and University support for the application and a great deal of enthusiasm for the effort.”