Google parent Alphabet may turn to wireless technology for Gig service


              Tom Lowry, left, head of the Google Atlanta office, shakes hands with Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed at the conclusion of a press conference announcing the launch of Google Fiber in Atlanta, one of four cities also including Charlotte, Raleigh-Durham, and Nashville on Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2015, in Atlanta.  (AP Photo/Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Curtis Compton)  MARIETTA DAILY OUT; GWINNETT DAILY POST OUT; LOCAL TELEVISION OUT; WXIA-TV OUT; WGCL-TV OUT
Tom Lowry, left, head of the Google Atlanta office, shakes hands with Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed at the conclusion of a press conference announcing the launch of Google Fiber in Atlanta, one of four cities also including Charlotte, Raleigh-Durham, and Nashville on Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2015, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Curtis Compton) MARIETTA DAILY OUT; GWINNETT DAILY POST OUT; LOCAL TELEVISION OUT; WXIA-TV OUT; WGCL-TV OUT

While Chattanooga touts itself as "the Gig City" for its high-speed internet links provided by its municipal power utility, another major provider of gig service in other cities is rethinking its approach to how it delivers faster web connections.

Google parent Alphabet Inc. is rethinking its fiber optic-based internet business and may now push for wireless technology for internet connections, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The newspaper reported Monday that Google Fiber cities and high-speed internet service proved more expensive than originally forecast.

"Alphabet's internet provider, Google Fiber, has spent hundreds of millions digging up streets to lay fiber-optic cables in a handful of cities through which it offered residents web connections nearly 30 times faster than the U.S. average," reporter Jack Nicas said Monday in a front-page report in the Wall Street Journal. "Now the company is hoping to use wireless technology to connect homes, rather than cables, in about a dozen new metro areas."

Google Fiber installed gig service in parts of Kansas City, Kan.; Provo, Utah; Austin, Tex.; Nashville, Atlanta and Charlotte, N.C.

But other cities that were to get Google Fiber may have to wait or may not get such service. The Journal quoted sources who said Google has suspended cable projects in San Jose, Calif., and Portland, Ore., for at least the next six months.

"The company is trying to cut costs and accelerate its expansion elsewhere by leasing existing fiber or asking cities or power companies to build the networks instead of building its own," Nicas said.

But in Chattanooga, the city-owned utility, EPB, continues to push its fiber optic connections.

EPB pioneered America's first community-wide gigabit-per-second internet service in 2010 after installing fiber to the home for all of its 170,000 customers in its 600-square-mile service territory. EPB issued more than $220 million in bonds to fund the fiber optic network, but the utility was able to use that fiber network for remote power billing and upgraded electric service along with its broadband and TV services. The smart grid features of its fiber network helped EPB reduce its power outages and capture more than $111 million in federal stimulus grants.

As a result, EPB has succeeded in signing up more than 82,000 customers for its fiber optic telecommunications services, which generate a net profit to help keep electric rates about 5 percent lower than they would otherwise be without the fiber optic system, EPB Chairman Joe Ferguson said.

But Google is not realizing as big of a return on its fiber networks and, as a private company, it doesn't qualify for the same federal stimulus support. Google has reached just six metro areas so far.

That's far different from the fanfare in 2010 when Google launched its high-speed internet service and attracted applications from more than 1,000 cities interested in gaining the Google Fiber investment and service. Kansas City was the first city to get the Google Fiber connections in 2012 and, at the time, Google talked about helping build a nationwide network.

"If you're in the telecommunications industry for 150 years, there are no surprises here," Jonathan Reichentel, chief technology officer for the city of Palo Alto, Calif., told the Journal. "But if you're a software company getting into the business for the first time, this is a completely new world."

In July, Google Fiber bought Webpasss Inc., a company that uses fiber-connected antenna connections to serve about 820 buildings in five cities. Webpass Chief Executive Charles Barr told the Journal that wireless offers a chance to overcome the challenging economics of laying fiber cable to every home.

"Everyone who has done fiber to the home has given up because it costs way too much money and takes way too much time," Barr said.

The Journal noted both AT&T and Verizon have discussed using wireless technology for the "last mile" connection to homes to help limit installation costs.

But EPB President David Wade insists fiber-to-the-home has worked for EPB, which was rated this summer by Consumer Reports magazine as the top customer service utility in America.

Wade said that in Chattanooga, EPB was successful with its fiber-to-the-home because of its experience with installing electric wires to every residence as a power utility and its ability to leverage the fiber network for multiple uses. EPB fiber helps the electric utility provide more reliable power and to read power meters without having to send out staff to every house. At the same time, the fiber network allows EPB to provide ultra-fast internet, television and telephone service for customers who sign up for telecom services.

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