Google gets approval for Wi-Fi in Mountain View, California

Google finally gets a chance to display its skill as an internet service provider! They finally have the approval to launch free Wi-Fi service on its home turf in Mountain View, California. This would be the company’s first foray into the wireless LAN market. The lawmakers in the region gave Google the nod for a five-year agreement with Google that enables the company to use city-owned streetlight poles as locations for wireless access points for a citywide Wi-Fi system.

This enables Google to provide Wi-Fi based internet connectivity to Mountain View. The city could also receive an annual payment of some $12,600 for the placement of Google equipment on the light poles. Google would be bearing the cost of installation and maintenance. The city would however be bearing the utility expenses expected to come around $3,000 to $4,000 per year. Google would later reimburse this amount.

Google has their headquarters located in Mountain View and they plan to use the city as a test ground for the cost of building and supporting similar networks in other areas. They are already waiting for a similar approval from the lawmakers of San Francisco. Google said in a statement released to the media: “This proposal is in the same spirit of making the world’s information easily and quickly accessible as our recent San Francisco Wi-Fi bid and is technically comparable to that initiative. Google has no plans at this time to expand our Wi-Fi efforts beyond the Bay Area.”

Market experts believe that this is just a test project from the company, which loves to experiment a lot with ideas. They are hoping to generate revenues by increasing the traffic on their sites leading to more income from the online advertisements, which happens to be their biggest source of income.