UPDATE: Google told us that Google Fiber is only hiring engineers in Canada. There are no plans to expand. Headline was changed to reflect this.
For the time being, Google Fiber is a strictly Kansas City affair. The company has said it would like to expand, but it probably wont do anything until Google Fiber is fully available to both Kansas Cities. That being said, the company is expanding its Google Fiber operations and that can only be a good thing.
The Financial Post reports that Google is currently looking for three people in the Kitchener, Ontario area to work on Google Fiber projects. The jobs currently available are a product manager, a test engineer and a software engineer. All three positions will be responsible for helping Google build mobile apps to complement its current Google Fiber service.
The product manager is the most interesting job posting because it definitely alludes to Google Fiber launching in more locations in the future. Here’s the responsibilities listed in the posting:
So what’s the big deal here? Every product manager has those responsibilities. What does any of this have to do with Google Fiber expansion? In all honesty, it could just mean that Google is looking for people in Canada to help develop mobile apps for its current Google Fiber expansion in Kansas City.
We could, however, look into this deeper, and suggest that Google may be keeping an eye on the Canadian market as a potential location for expansion. ISPs in the country are generally disliked for using abusive data caps that make the use of services like Netflix all but impossible. Much like any city in the U.S., Canadians would welcome the advent of Google Fiber with open arms.
Once again, it’s worth pointing out that Google may not have any plans for Canada at all. The company is hiring employees for Google Fiber projects in New York, and there’s little chance that such a large city would get Google Fiber anytime soon. So it’s best to keep our expectations in check, and just be envious of our neighbors in Kansas City who are getting blindingly fast Internet.
