Is Google Fiber's future cloudy? | Barry Umansky
The comic strip character “Barney Google” first appeared in 1919. Four years later a popular song described the character’s “Goo-Goo-Googly Eyes.” Flash forward to the Google search engine’s launch in the late 1990s and its 2010 inauguration of “Google Fiber.” Although the Barney Google character and its namesake’s song received approving “Ayes” from the public a century ago, Google Fiber now generally is receiving “Nayes” from its subscribing public and from the municipalities that once lusted after the service.
In fact, if you do a Google search for “failed gigabit Internet service,” at the top of the page will be stories about “Google Fiber.” Why did things go wrong with Google Fiber? Yes, its launch did spur the conversation – and the competition – for gigabit and near-gigabit Internet service. But what, if any, role will today’s Google Fiber play in our high-speed Internet future?
When Google Fiber was first announced, more than 1,100 cities and towns from all over the nation aggressively lobbied to be named a “Google Fiber City.” Google’s pledges to deliver reliable, superfast Internet not seen before – along with a promised bounty of jobs and more opportunities for businesses – were very captivating. The competition was fierce. Cities developed YouTube videos and put on spectacular public events to help secure the blessings of Google Fiber’s high-tech nirvana.
Nearly seven years later, few of the cities selected have much to show for their “victory.” More common among the “winning” municipalities have been community disruptions, broken gas lines, burst water pipes and destroyed yards. For a company associated with the cutting edge of the Internet experience, the planning for, construction and deployment of, and consumer experience with Google Fiber have fallen well short of the promises made.
Recent months have seen Google Fiber management shakeups, laid-off employees and “on-hold” status for the service rollout in many communities. Officials at “Alphabet,” the holding company for “all-things-Google,” may be realizing that Google Fiber is a huge money pit. Google Fiber has proven to be one of Alphabet’s most-expensive side projects, costing the company at least $1 billion per market – and that’s on top of the related costs that cities, businesses, and private citizens also have been forced to incur. In light of these monetary and public relations costs, Google may be abandoning the fiber model, hitting pause in multiple markets and canceling plans in others. As Bloomberg reported, Google Fiber officials had plans to expand nationwide, “but building wired networks across major urban areas was too expensive.”
The latest community to be stymied by Google Fiber is Kansas City, Missouri. As local television station KSHB reported last week, Google Fiber emailed Kansas City residents – numbering in the thousands, according to local sources – informing them that the installations for which they long had been waiting have been canceled. Google Fiber did not indicate the reasons for the cancellations, other than to admit that the company was “unable to build our network to connect your home or business at this time.” The email announcement is a reversal of the October 2016, Google Fiber statement to that same TV station that Kansas City would not be affected by Google Fiber's decision to stop development in various cities across the United States.
In the wake of its failed fiber efforts, Alphabet’s plan to salvage Google Fiber may be via Webpass, its recently acquired wireless technology company. Webpass launched in San Francisco and expanded to San Diego, Miami, Chicago and Boston. Google Fiber reportedly plans to bring the service to Seattle. However, and even with Webpass under the Google Fiber umbrella, the future of its service offerings is less than clear. No launch date has been announced for Seattle and there is no word on whether or not Google Fiber is planning deployments in other cities. According to Ars Technica, a Google Fiber spokesperson said that the company has “no further plans to share.”
To be sure, Google Fiber’s initial promises for gigabit service have led to welcome competition among ISPs for much higher Internet speeds than previously had been available to consumers and to businesses. But, with its substantial financial losses, management upheavals and technology shifts, Google Fiber may well be joining the ranks of past “pioneers” who blazed the trail but were surpassed by others who learned from – and avoided – these pioneers’ mistakes.
Barry Umansky is Co-Director and Senior Policy Counsel of the Ball State University Digital Policy Institute, as well as a professor in that university’s telecommunications department. He is a graduate of Carleton College and the Washington University School of Law in St. Louis.