Google to Offer Internet Service in Olathe, Kansas - WSJ.com

Google to Offer Internet Service in Olathe, Kansas - WSJ.com: Google hopes its fiber initiative can put pressure on cable and phone companies to improve their networks as Americans use more bandwidth for online-video services such as Google's YouTube, among other sites.

Nonsense. Even assuming the truth of this purported rationale, Google can apply pressure all it wants, but for these publicly traded, investor owned Internet service providers -- Google included -- the real pressure is the pressure to produce quarterly earnings plus in the case of the incumbent telcos and cablecos, generous dividends.  And that imperative will always win out over CAPex to improve and build out network infrastructure.

AT&T forced to invest in wireline plant to stem residential cord cutting

This item from Bloomberg/Businessweek helps explain why AT&T is opting to invest $6 billion in its wireline infrastructure.  The telco has been bleeding residential connections for years as these customers have dropped landline service and migrated to mobile wireless.  This is particularly true for those residential customers not offered wireline Internet service and thus had no reason to keep their landline account active.

AT&T is apparently now hoping to win those customers back and retain those thinking of cutting the cord by providing them Internet service via its proprietary, VDSL-based U-verse IPDSLAM service.  According to an AT&T news release today announcing its 3-year, $14 billion CAPex plan, U-verse IPDSLAM will provide Internet access and Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) to 24 million customer premises in AT&T's wireline service area by year-end 2013.