Google looks to add satellite antenna farm in Iowa to support fiber optic network

Google Fiber wants to erect a satellite antenna farm near its data center in Iowa to likely receive content from broadcast networks packaged with its high-speed fiber optic network.

Google Fiber’s application in a Federal Communications Commission Public Notice for Satellite Communication Services hopes to “register a C-band receive-only earth station and a Ku-band receive-only earth station in Council Bluffs, Iowa.” According to DataCenterKnowledge, the satellite antennas would deliver analog and digital audio, as well as video and data services.

The FCC application mentioned various 4.5-meter satellite dishes for access to satellite transmissions, including international television programming through Intelsat 9. Google purchased an additional 1,000 acres in 2007 near its Council Bluffs data center, and Google Maps imagining depicts a plot of land to the west of the data center where the satellite farm could potentially rest (as seen in the top image)…

It is important to note the FCC partially denied Google Fiber on Feb. 2.  According to DataCenterKnowledge, the C-band is for general satellite broadcasts and can function more effectively in adverse weather conditions in the lower ranges, while the Ku band performs in a higher range primarily for editing and broadcasting satellite television.

Just south of the $600 million Council Bluffs site is Kansas City, K.S. Google announced last spring that KCK landed the search engine’s super-speed Internet project. The local community successfully vied against 1,100 other United States localities courting Google and its ambitious Internet plans. KCK subsequently became the first “Gigabyte City” or “Fiber Town.”

Google claimed it would begin KCK customer signups for the service in the fourth quarter of 2011, and the company planned to power-up the fiber optic network in the first quarter of 2012. For a while, it seemed those plans would not come to fruition, but Google announced in an official blog post earlier this month that it is ready to lay fiber.

“We’ve measured utility poles; we’ve studied maps and surveyed neighborhoods; we’ve come up with a comprehensive set of detailed engineering plans; and we’ve eaten way too much barbecue. Now, starting today, we’re ready to lay fiber,” wrote Google Access General Manager Kevin Lo.

The Mountain View, Calif.-based Company said it plans to stretch thousands of miles of cables across Kansas City, K.S. to Kansas City, M.O.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=QqwjjfKRgb0]