That didn’t take long. Just as Google announced that Austin would be the second recipient following Kansas City as the having the fastest home internet connection in the United States, Japanese company So-net Entertainment launched a home service in Tokyo and surrounding areas that doubles up on Google’s 1Gbps.
The company, backed by Sony, launched “Nuro”. With a $535 installation charge and $51 a month service, it isn’t the cheapest in the world, but those who want the fastest available will pay the price. Japan already has services that are a match for Google Fiber with nearly 1 in 4 households equipped for lightning fast uploads and downloads. Even with that, they’re are currently ranked 3rd in the world in internet speeds behind South Korea and Hong Kong. That may change soon.
According to PCWorld:
The Japanese government has strongly backed fiber connections to private residences, and the country is now among the world leaders. About 25 percent of Japanese households are currently connected, the second-highest rate in the world, according to data from regional FTTH, or Fibre to the Home, organizations. The UAE is the highest at over 70 percent.
So as not to take away from what Google is doing in the poor digital infrastructure of America, here’s their launch video that announced the 2014 arrival of their service in Austin:
yay competition again.