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
Published Dec 7th, 2012 3:41PM EST
If you buy through a BGR link, we may earn an affiliate commission, helping support our expert product labs.
Brad Reed has written about technology for over eight years at BGR.com and Network World. Prior to that, he wrote freelance stories for political publications such as AlterNet and the American Prospect. He has a Master's Degree in Business and Economics Journalism from Boston University.
