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With Google Fiber's glitzy launch in the heart of Salt Lake City, one might think the company was introducing high-speed internet access to Utah.

Not so fast, say the state's other broadband providers.

CenturyLink, Comcast's Xfinity and a host of smaller telecommunications firms have poured millions of dollars into Utah's capital in recent years, expanding how many homes and businesses they reach, increasing available speeds and, in some cases, installing backbone capacity alongside Google's newly enabled fiber-optic network.

So, thanks to free enterprise — and smart moves at City Hall — most customers who want faster downloads now have a range of choices in addition to Google Fiber's gigabit deal.

"The good news in Utah is that we have a very competitive environment in the broadband space," said Kelleigh Cole, director of the Utah Broadband Outreach Center, part of the Governor's Office of Economic Development.

The Beehive State, Cole said, "is becoming a key location for providers to invest in."

Best known for its namesake online search engine, Mountain View, Calif.-based Google Fiber first expressed interest in Salt Lake City in early 2014. In courting Google, city officials streamlined and digitized much of their permitting process in ways that have helped other providers.

"That added a lot of efficiencies," said Nole Walkingshaw, civic engagement manager with the city's Department of Community and Economic Development. "We're better at our job because we went through this, and that's where the others are getting an advantage."

After a hectic 18-month buildout, Google unveiled high-speed access Aug. 24 for 112 blocks of the city, placing Utah's capital among nearly 25 U.S. hosts where its fiber is live, under construction or in the planning stages.

Google is offering residents and small- to medium-size businesses up to gigabit-speed internet — with optional TV and phone packages. Its initial footprint stretches from 100 South to 800 South, between 400 West and 1300 East, with more neighborhoods expected to go live in the coming months.

The company also has opened a customer center-turned-internet cafe, dubbed Fiber Space, in the Trolley Square shopping mall.

A spokesman said Friday that initial customer demand "has been very strong and is exceeding our expectations."

At Google Fiber's unveiling party, Scott Tenney, head of its operations in Utah, said that while the scorching speeds draw public attention, its pricing is also "transparent" — with no hidden fees, data caps, modem or router rentals or multiyear contracts.

"We want to win your business," Tenney said.

Not surprisingly, so do Google Fiber's competitors, who have also been busy these past few years.

Telephone giant CenturyLink has spent about a half-billion dollars in Utah since 2011, widening its network to offer speeds of 100 megabits per second to more than 250,000 households from Logan to St. George, a company official said. It also has run fiber to nearly 100,000 homes, including portions of eastern Salt Lake City's Sugar House, allowing gigabit downloads at prices comparable to Google's.

The Louisiana-based company has captured a robust share of Utah's business customers, who often require bandwidth well above gigabit speeds, said Jeremy Ferkin, CenturyLink's vice president for operations in Utah, Nevada and California.

"We are not great at going out and telling a wonderful, whiz-bang story that involves a whole lot of pixie dust," Ferkin said. "But what we are great at is building a network that is stable, reliable and future-ready."

Comcast's Xfinity has also invested heavily in three network upgrades since 2014, focused on boosting capacity at Salt Lake City's northern end and improving backbone conduits ringing the city, said company spokeswoman Dee Knight.

Already one of the largest broadband providers in the Salt Lake Valley, Comcast is poised to launch a Gigabit Plus package, offering high speeds to homes, Knight said. It also is in the midst of a campaign to overhaul customer service.

To that end, the company spent more than $100 million in 2015 on new tools, support and training for customer representatives, Knight said, while also financing a range of grants and civic programs delivering discounted internet access and home computers to low-income residents.

Comcast has a deep commitment, she said, "to support and fund the communities we serve."

Dozens of smaller Utah companies are also pushing high-speed links to homes and businesses in Salt Lake City and suburban communities farther south.

Tooele County-based Beehive Broadband, for example, operated as a rural telephone company for nearly 50 years before jumping into fiber-optic internet services in 2009. Focusing at first on commercial customers, it has since wired residential fiber to a sizable share of Salt Lake City's Avenues, along with pockets of Holladay, Bluffdale, Herriman and Riverton.

Rather than viewing Google Fiber as a threat, Beehive Broadband President Scott Wilson said "I love them."

"Google is doing everybody a service in this state," Wilson said. "They are pushing the importance of additional bandwidth and the need for it."

An official with the public-sector fiber-optic network known as UTOPIA, or the Utah Telecommunication Open Infrastructure Agency, echoed that sentiment. The municipal fiber agency operating in 11 Wasatch Front communities outside Salt Lake City is celebrating Google's arrival, which comes as UTOPIA's once-troubled finances are improving and its fiber reach is expanding in host communities such as West Valley City, Layton and Perry.

"The attention that Google Fiber has brought to the market has been a huge boost for us," said Roger Timmerman, executive director for UTOPIA. "We see more web traffic. We see more signups, just a lot more attention to fiber and what it does."

Twitter: @TonySemerad