AT&T; counters Google, plans ultra-fast Internet service in Austin

Not to be outdone by Google, AT&T; has announced that it too will build the infrastructure to provide 1-gigabit Internet service in Austin, Texas.

AT&T; announced the move Tuesday just after Google and city officials said Google would be expanding its super-speedy Google Fiber broadband service to the Texas city.

Google Fiber is only offered in the Kansas City, Mo., area. The Internet search giant said the connection is about 100 times faster than many other services available in the U.S.

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Kansas City customers pay $70 a month for the gigabit service or $120 for Internet and 200 HD TV channels. Google also offers Internet service with speeds of 5 megabits per second for free. Google hopes to bring similar offerings to Austin in 2014.

But Austin is in AT&T;’s backyard, and Google’s announcement clearly did not sit well with the telecommunications giant.

AT&T; said that it too will bring a similar, competing service as long as it is “granted the same terms and conditions as Google on issues such as geographic scope of offerings, rights of way, permitting, state licenses and any investment incentives,” the company said in a statement Tuesday.

The Dallas company did not say how soon users might see the 1-gigabit offering.

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