This story has been updated.

Google Fiber has confirmed it is beginning installation of its fiber network in Metro Atlanta.

The company first announced its intentions to bring its 1 gig service to the Atlanta market in January. At the time, company officials said build out for providing fiber to nine cities in the metro area would take at least two years.

The company is beginning work in Atlanta’s midtown area, according to spokesperson Fabiola Charles.

“Since we first announced we’d bring Google Fiber to nine cities across metro Atlanta (including Decatur), we’ve been hard at work designing our fiber network,” Charles said. “Now that the design is complete, we’re ready to begin construction starting today. We’ll start in Atlanta’s midtown area and expand construction to all nine cities over the coming months.”

The nine cities are Atlanta, Avondale Estates, Brookhaven, College Park, Decatur, East Point, Hapeville, Sandy Springs and Smyrna.

A press release from the company says that fiber won’t necessarily go to the areas where the fiber is first installed.

“We’ll be doing construction all across the metro area in the coming months, but we don’t yet have a schedule for
when and where we’ll be able to offer service first,” the company says.

So when will fiber become available in the metro area? When can people sign up?

“It’s still too early to say,” the company says. “We have a lot of construction work to do first! We’ll make an announcement as soon as we have an update about timing. The best way to stay in-the-loop is to signup for more information on our website, google.com/fiber.”

The city of Decatur said on The Decatur Minute, “Decatur staff continue to work closely with Google to plan for a streamlined construction process. We will continue to keep the community informed and up-to-date on the latest developments in the Google Fiber construction process.”

Avondale Estates sent out a citywide email which said, “Activity will begin in Atlanta’s midtown area, so Avondale Estates residents will not see immediate activity. As Google Fiber gets closer to breaking ground in Avondale Estates, they will work closely with City staff to keep the community informed.”

The Google Fiber team also sent the following email to people who have subscribed to the company’s mailing list ….

Hey Atlanta,Have you seen us around town lately? We’re the ones with hard hats and dirt stains on our clothes.Over the last few months, our team has been drawing up blueprints for our new fiber network in metro Atlanta. But that was just the start.We’re doing some heavy lifting – literally – to bring Google Fiber to communities throughout Atlanta. There are crews working on the streets with boom trucks, tunnel boring machines, and rolls of cables as we form the foundation of our network.We’ll be sure to let you know if we’re going to be doing construction near your home — but here’s a sneak peek at what we’re up to.

This bright orange conduit covers our fiber to protect it from the elements as we lay it underground. We’ll be installing enough fiber in metro Atlanta to run from here to Iceland. Conduit needs to be sealed so that dirt, water, stones, and the occasional hungry squirrel don’t get into the fiber. Here we’re inserting a plug to seal it off. We use a lot of different types of equipment to lay fiber, but our crews still do a lot of heavy lifting. Here we’re placing the conduit underground.

There’s a lot to do, but we’re working hard to make sure we get it right. If you haven’t already, you can follow us on Google+, Facebook, or Twitter to hear more about what’s next.See you around town, The Atlanta Google Fiber team

Read more: Here is the full press release, from Google. 

Atlanta Start of Construction One-Pager

Correction: An earlier version of this post quoted an email sent by a company handling PR for Google. The rep from the company clarified that the statements in that email came from spokesperson Fabiola Charles, not the sender of the email. This post has been updated and the attribution changed at the request of the sender.