Nationwide Google Fiber Deployment Would Cost $140 Billion 327
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."
Re:Nightmare (Score:5, Funny)
Re:$140B = $50 / person (Score:5, Funny)
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!