Google Startup Aims to Bring Fast, Free Wi-Fi to Cities

It's buying two of the companies that are blanketing New York City with superfast Internet

An attendee at Google's annual developers conference in San Francisco last month.

Photographer: Michael Short/Bloomberg
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Sidewalk Labs, the Google-backed urban innovation startup unveiled this month, has picked its first project—bringing free, fast Wi-Fi to cities around the world.

Today it announced it is leading a group of investors acquiring Control Group and Titan, among the companies working on the LinkNYC network to blanket New York City with free, superfast Wi-Fi. The two have merged to form Intersection, which will oversee the rollout of LinkNYC this fall and then seek to install similar technology in other cities.