Chicago gets reprieve in Google Fiber 'pause'

Google is hitting the pause button, rethinking the scale of its ambitious plans to become a major provider of low-cost high-speed internet as it weighs options beyond laying expensive fiber-optic cables. The company said it would “pause” rollouts of Google Fiber to new cities. But it will provide some service in Chicago—one of the cities that was on the bubble—because it's served by Webpass, a wireless broadband provider that Google acquired in June. “In Chicago, Google Fiber and Webpass will work together to extend and accelerate deployments via point-to-point wireless,” a Google spokeswoman said. Google also has a stake in telecom provider RCN, which serves Chicago, where Google employs more than 600.