McKelvey Urges Maui Support of Google’s high speed Gigabit Internet access project
West Maui State Representative Angus McKelvey wants to bring Google’s high speed gigabit Internet access project to Maui. He is asking residents to help by filling out an on-line petition to have the company use the Valley Isle as a test bed for the pilot project. Under the proposal, Google would provide up to 500,000 people high-speed internet access of up to 1 gigabit per second—that’s 100 times faster than most connections in Hawaii and the U.S.
“If selected, Google would install community-based fiber optic connections throughout Maui,” McKelvey said, noting that under the proposal Google would pay for the implementation of such a system and allow current providers to tie into their system.
McKelvey, who serves as the Chair of the House Economic Revitalization, Business and Military Affairs (EBM) Committee called the potential partnership a unique opportunity.
“The high speed fiber network would aid ongoing work by the State in the development of more efficient telecommuting, real-time updates for Maui’s planned Intelligent Traffic System, allow professionals to receive distance training with live video feeds, and allow streaming of academic videos and seminars to the University of Hawaii at Maui as well as other Maui schools, broadening the curriculum offered while lowering costs,” McKelvey said.
McKelvey has authored two resolutions, H.R. 214 and H.C.R. 297, to urge Google to select Hawaii as its test site for their initiative. The deadline for submissions of questionnaires is Friday, March 26th.
To get involved, residents can visit http://www.google.com/appserve/fiberrfi/public/options and click on “Nominate your community”. Users would then be prompted to fill out a short questionnaire regarding their current internet use and experience as well as why Maui would be an ideal location for this project to be sited.
McKelvey also urged residents to visit http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/gigabithi/ and sign the on-line petition that will be forwarded to Google.
(Posted by Wendy Osher; Supporting information provided by the Office of Rep. Angus McKelvey)
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