Confirmed: Google Fiber Coming To Atlanta, Nashville, Charlotte, Raleigh-Durham

googfibUPDATE: As Google preps to make its official announcements about Google Fiber, the service’s website has been updated to include Atlanta, Nashville, and the North Carolina markets of Charlotte and Raleigh-Durham as “Upcoming” Fiber cities, with San Antonio, Phoenix, Salt Lake City, Portland (OR), and San Jose now designated as “Potential” sites for Google Fiber in the future.

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A post on the Google Fiber blog confirms the news, with the company saying the expansion will include a total of 18 cities in these four markets.

In addition to the city of Atlanta, Google Fiber will be coming to the nearby towns of Avondale Estates, Brookhaven, College Park, Decatur, East Point, Hapeville, Sandy Springs, and Smyrna.

And the cities of Raleigh and Durham will be joined by Carrboro, Cary, Chapel Hill, Garner, and Morrisville.

As for the “Potential” markets, Google says it is still continuing to explore those options and will make announcements regarding the five cities later this year.

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Last week, it became pretty evident that Google is going to announce that the North Carolina markets of Charlotte and Raleigh-Durham would be the next to get Google Fiber high-speed broadband service. Now comes a report that two additional expansion cities — Atlanta and Nashville — are slated to be announced as early as today.

This is according to the Wall Street Journal, which reports that civic leaders in these two metro areas have received invites to Google-related events, much like what we described happening in North Carolina.

The events don’t mention the nature of the event, but given how all four of these metro areas were on Google’s list of possible expansion markets earlier this year, it’s either news of Google Fiber’s impending arrival or a setup for the biggest letdown since Snowmageddon 2015.

We’ll know soon enough, as the Nashville and Atlanta events are scheduled for today. Events in Charlotte and Raleigh are slated for Wednesday afternoon, followed by one more in Durham on Thursday.

However, a Charlotte Observer report from earlier today says that local media has been invited to a Google press conference at 1 p.m. this afternoon to “hear more about what’s in store for the people of Charlotte,” which seems to indicate that the announcement may come in advance of tomorrow’s events.

While the Google Fiber expansion plans currently appear to be limited to these four markets, other eligible cities are not giving up hope.

A rep for the city of San Jose tells the Journal that Google has given city officials the impression that just because a market isn’t immediately included in expansion plans doesn’t mean it’s not part of Google’s larger agenda.

“The message was that these announcements should not be considered the end of the road for the other areas,” said the rep.

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