In 2012, Google announced that it would enter the Fiber to the Home (FTTH) business. The vision was to build a vast network that brought the fastest internet that anyone could imagine to you and me. They launched in Kansas City and soon announced other locales that would be the next destination for this super internet service. Fast forward to 2016 and Google announced it would suspend its rollout and reevaluate its fiber strategy.
If you have any experience in the underground or overhead utility industry then you know it is costly and risky to run cable underground. This is especially true in established major metropolitan areas that have an underground infrastructure that resembles the worst type of boy-scout knot imaginable. Trying to navigate in and around these existing utilities is time consuming and costly.
So, Google failed right? Well maybe not. Google is first and foremost a technology company. They are famed for search and now the Android platform for cell phones. Not to mention their own internet browser, email service, and much much more. So, if Google doesn’t sell you the internet service for your house, who will? There’s a long line of people ready and willing to take your hard earned money in exchange for access to the internet. These folks include big hitters like AT&T, Verizon, Cox Communications, and many more smaller entities. When Google announced their plans guess what their already established competition did? They got busy rolling out their own super-fast fiber to the home internet service infrastructure. Now you can use AT&T internet to surf the web on your Google Chrome browser downloaded on your Android phone. So Google still gets all your screen time without the costly infrastructure costs.
Pardon me for using an outdated name for Google, I meant to say Alphabet. One of the companies under alphabet is X. The famed “moon shot” labratory where Alphabet cooks up its wildest and most far fetched ideas. This lab is the birth place of Google Glass and the self driving car initiative. Imagine working on a technological break through at X, only to find out that no one in the country has fast enough internet to use your amazing piece of technology. That’s a bummer. But what if they got enough speed and bandwidth to use your technology. Sure it would be expensive and only the government could afford it. If only AT&T, Verizon, Cox Communications, and all the other internet service providers would offer such a service. Or Google Fiber could do it.
Now that the “competition” has upgraded their own networks to offer this kind of internet service, Alphabet can continue to develop their out of this world apps and technology. Now us commoners can use this technology because of the massive infrastructure developments put forth by these companies. Now Google can continue to dominate internet marketing and ad revenue by using their “competitors” infrastructure to give you access to their products.
As they say, for Alphabet it’s a win-win, even if it looks like a loss.
elipagel.com 