Google considers building fiber network

During a meeting at the French Industry Ministry, Drummond said that Google was "looking very closely" at a potential project in Europe, without specifying where this project would be launched or when.

This wouldn't be its first foray into networks. The U.S company has already announced a plan to build an experimental ultra-fast broadband network in Kansas City.

Google's interest comes as European telecoms operators are under pressure to up investment in high speed broadband networks across the continent.

European Union Digital Agenda Commissioner Neelie Kroes has often bemoaned the lack of investment by telecoms operators into an EU-wide network.

The EU Commission wants broadband connections of 30 megabits a second to be available to all 500 million EU residents by 2020. However, many major operators have been reluctant to shoulder the risk and cost of building such a huge network without a guaranteed return on investment.

The investment, which Kroes estimates at around EUR300 billion, will be vital to boost growth in the continent's sagging economies. The Internet economy is expected to grow to EUR800 billion, or 5.8% of Europe's gross domestic product by 2014, according to the EU Commission.

In 2010, when Google announced that it was looking to build an experimental network in the U.S., over 1,100 cities said they were interested.

Source: MarketWatch