Nationwide Google Fiber Deployment Would Cost $140 Billion

An anonymous reader writes "For a lot of U.S. internet users, Google Fiber sounds too good to be true — 1Gbps speeds for prices similar to much slower plans from current providers. Google is testing the service now in Kansas City, but what would it take for them to roll it out to the rest of the country? Well, according to a new report from Goldman Sachs, the price tag would be over $140 billion. Not even Google has that kind of cash laying around. From the report: '... if Google devoted 25% of its $4.5bn annual capex to this project, it could equip 830K homes per year, or 0.7% of US households. As such, even a 50mn household build out, which would represent less than half of all U.S. homes, could cost as much as $70bn. We note that Jason Armstrong estimates Verizon has spent roughly $15bn to date building out its FiOS fiber network covering an area of approximately 17mn homes.' Meanwhile, ISPs like Time Warner aren't sure the demand exists for 1Gbps internet, so it's unlikely they'll leap to invest in their own build-out."

Comments

Time for some grass roots activism

[symbolset]

I guess it's time for all of us to tell our power utility that fiber is essential infrastructure. They need to standardize on the Google Method and wire our streets so that they're ready when Google comes here. Otherwise this is going to take too long.

First communities to make it a downhill run for Google win the digital economy.

Almost the whole world wants Google fiber.

And if they won't do it - maybe they'll show us how we can do it for ourselves.

Re:Time for some grass roots activism

[symbolset]

Property values are up. Jobs are up. KC is in the national spotlight in a good way. Every local official that got behind this is a local hero who just amplified his political opportunities. Those folks are assured reelection in perpetuity. They didn't have to be bribed to let Google hang fiber: they had to beg Google to come hang the fiber. They were changing the honorary name of the city to "Google". They were promising the name of every first-born son...

Seeing how this is working out, Google won't lack for cities to beg them to come hang fiber for quite some time.

Over 1,000 cities competed for the opportunity to be first. And over 1,000 cities were disappointed to lose the chance.

$140B = $50 / person

[ShanghaiBill]

In a country of 300M people, $140B is only $50 per person. Comparing the price to Google's market cap is silly. For a big infrastructure project like this they would, of course, seek new capital to cover the cost. This is affordable.

Re:$140B = $50 / person

[kramulous]

It is more like $500. Still ridiculously cheap.

Only governments can do this sort of thing properly. Pity Americans don't trust their government.

Re:$140B = $50 / person

[NFN_NLN]

It is more like $500. Still ridiculously cheap.

Only governments can do this sort of thing properly. Pity Americans don't trust their government.

1Gbps fiber to the house is a waste when you consider the options:

For $140B we could exactly bail out the banks after screwing us yet again.
We could extend the war in Afghanistan another 3 years.
Or you could also extend the "war on drugs" another 4 years!

Re:$140B = $50 / person

[mellon]

You might want to read this article. This is an article about what happens when private industry takes money from people to built faster broadband infrastructure. Executive summary: they pocket the money, and don't build the infrastructure.

It may be that government would do the same, but this is an unsubstantiated assertion on your part. How's about you provide some citations to support your claim? Because as far as I know, there have been a lot of successes with municipal broadband, and very few failures (indeed, I know of only one).

I find this statement amusing...

[Red_Chaos1]

..."Meanwhile, ISPs like Time Warner aren't sure the demand exists for 1Gbps internet,"

At current costs? Of course not. People would *love* to have more speed. But not if it's going to cost $100+ a month to get it like TWC/Cox/Comcast/etc. would charge for it. They create their own stagnation with greed.

Re:Days of War

[bill_mcgonigle]

Going by $720M / day, that's less than 200 days of the war in Iraq.

Yes, but the Iraq war benefits the bankers, globalists, and components of the military-industrial-media complex. Nationwide gigabit fiber would chiefly benefit the citizenry and small businesses. So, the Legislators simply can't vote for such a thing!

America's Priorities

[periol]

So we can bailout Wall St. and the banks to the tune of hundreds of billions, but we can't afford to invest in infrastructure. Good to know.

Google, Apple, Netflix, et al must do this

[rabtech]

The telcos are slowly strangling the internet... from bandwidth caps, to non-compete agreements with the cable companies, from AUPs that prohibit servers, blocked ports/protocols, to a complete refusal to roll out fiber even in dense urban areas.

Google, Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Netflix, etc should each pony up some cash and begin a nationwide deployment right now. Not with an eye toward making a huge profit, but to ensure they continue to have access to their customers without toll-booths being setup inbetween because you can rest-assured that is exactly where the Telco/CableCo dualopoly is moving us.

This is a matter of long-term survival and they need to act now.

Same reason they should be buying their own media companies, before Big Content buys enough of Congress to make YouTube illegal and slaps a 100% tax on all flash memory.

The RIAA, MPAA, Telcos, and CableCos aren't necessary. It's time to eliminate them but the window on that is closing - soon they'll have too much influence to be assailable and we'll be in the Gilded Age 2.0, stuck for years until a massive depression finally loosens their grip on power.