Sci/Tech Google Fiber: Covering the whole country could cost $140 billion

[tom_mai78101]

Bad news for those of us who would love to see Google (GOOG) expand its fiber network out to the entire country: Doing so may be prohibitively expensive. Business Insider points us to a new research note from Goldman Sachs estimating that it would cost Google an estimated $140 billion or more to make Google Fiber available to the rest of the United States.

Since Google has “only” $45 billion on hand and since its annual CAPEX budget is $4.5 billion, it’s highly unlikely that Google Fiber will be rolling into most peoples’ neighborhoods in the near future. And that’s not the worst part — according to Goldman, “even a 50 million household build out, which would represent less than half of all US homes, could cost as much as $70 billion,” meaning Google would likely have to take out a major loan just to get Fiber to most major markets.

Cold water for Google Fiber fans: Covering the whole country could cost $140 billion

Bad news for those of us who would love to see Google (GOOG) expand its fiber network out to the entire country: Doing so may …

bgr.com

 

[FireCat]

LOL I'm not surprised a bit.

 

[Dan]

Maybe Apple could help them out?

 

[camelCase]

Damn Google; only they would be crazy enough to try an commoditize the internetz.

 

[xPass]

Damn Google; only they would be crazy enough to try an commoditize the internetz.

Good intentions though, would be sad to see this project abandoned

 

[tom_mai78101]

Good intentions though, would be sad to see this project abandoned

That's like saying US is about to abandon space exploration. It's really just sad...

 

[Slapshot136]

I find it hard to believe that covering half the population would require half the money - they are doing it wrong if they aren't targeting the high-density cities first

 

[Accname]

I find it hard to believe that covering half the population would require half the money - they are doing it wrong if they aren't targeting the high-density cities first

You have to keep in mind that it is more costly to build in cities with higher population density if the infrastructure isnt up to par. They have to break up the ground to lay the cables. This is much easier in some remote village then in a big city.

 

[Slapshot136]

You have to keep in mind that it is more costly to build in cities with higher population density if the infrastructure isnt up to par. They have to break up the ground to lay the cables. This is much easier in some remote village then in a big city.

there has to be some different cost/population somewhere, and it just doesn't make sense to go for the more expensive places first

 

[Accname]

there has to be some different cost/population somewhere, and it just doesn't make sense to go for the more expensive places first

The most expensive areas sometimes are those which would bring the most profit.

 

[tom_mai78101]

The most expensive areas sometimes are those which would bring the most profit.

That is a genuine rule of thumb we go for when playing SimCity 4.

 

[Slapshot136]

The most expensive areas sometimes are those which would bring the most profit.

please do explain how this would work where they have equal pricing, next to zero maintenance costs, and varying installation costs?

 

[Accname]

I said sometimes.