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Google Fiber will bring its high-speed internet access to several low-income housing centers in Salt Lake City.

In partnership with city officials and the Utah Nonprofit Housing Corp., Google Fiber announced this week it will offer its fiber-optic services to residents of three downtown properties at 135 S. 300 East, known as Lorna Doone Apartments, free of charge.

Google Fiber is an internet, TV and phone-service provider offering web speeds up to one gigabit per second. After nearly 18 months of study and network installation, the Mountain View, Calif.-based company in August unveiled its first customer service area spanning central in Salt Lake City, with additional areas to come.

Its announcement in conjunction with Utah Nonprofit Housing Corp. heralds the company's first installation in Utah's capital under its Gigabit Communities Program, one of many designed to address the "digital divide" in Google Fiber host cities and extend internet access to disadvantaged users.

A spokeswoman for the housing nonprofit said Google's initiative, with potential to affect hundreds of residents, would bolster and extend the reach of the agency's self-sufficiency programs.

Through added donations from businesses, Utah Nonprofit Housing Corp. will be expanding computer facilities at select housing sites to bring remote learning programs to all 55 on the housing nonprofit's locations, as well as digital-literacy training for first-time internet users.

Google Fiber's parent company, Alphabet Inc., selected Salt Lake City as a host city in March 2015, adding it to a list of nearly 25 U.S. cities where the service is live, under construction or in the planning stages, including Provo; Morrisville, N.C.; Nashville and Chattanooga, Tenn.; and Austin, Texas.

Since coming to Utah's capital, Google has developed partnerships with Spy Hop's digital youth program; Neighborhood House efforts directed at seniors; Salt Lake County Housing Authority; and the Salt Lake City School District.

Twitter: @TonySemerad