Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) has acquired 200 optical networking patents from Canadian intellectual properties firm Mosaid Technologies that could be used in its 1 Gigabit FTTH network in Kansas and Missouri.
The patents originally belonged to Italian cable company Pirelli Cavi e Sistemi and included several innovations that relate to optical fiber networking. They were filed some 10 years ago, reported Dow Jones Newswires. Pirelli Cavi at one time specialized in submarine telegraph lines. Mosaid assigned the patents to Google in February.
Google began construction of its FTTH network early last month saying it planned to build out a "solid fiber backbone" initially that would consist of thousands of miles of fiber. The company will go toe-to-toe with incumbents Time Warner Cable (NYSE: TWC) and AT&T (NYSE: T) offering Internet super-fast Internet speeds and, possibly, a rumored pay-TV offering.
Google this month reached a deal with AT&T that will allow it to hang its fiber on AT&T's poles, helping it overcome a major hurdle to its deployment.
Last month, sister publication FierceCable unearthed a Google patent that will enable it to deploy cable to homes without having to dig trenches in subscriber's yards. The patent described an unobtrusive "edging device" similar to decorative wall molding that could be laid along the edge of a driveway, for example.
"Tubing suitable for installation of air blown fiber may be installed in an edging device without embedding fiber cables in the tubing," Google states in the patent application. "Later, when the FTTx (fiber-to-the-home, or fiber-to-the-premise network) is available in the area, the fiber cables may be air blown or otherwise inserted into and guided through the tubing or the duct inside the edging device."
For more:
- see this article (sub. req.)
Related articles:
AT&T U-verse expands in Kansas City; will let Google hang fiber on its poles
Google fiber edging device could help it rapidly connect homes in Kansas City to 1-Gig network
Rumor mill: Google plans pay-TV service test in Kansas City