Google's Speed-Of-Light Crazy Broadband Network

Google (GOOG) plans to launch an experiment to test a super-high-speed broadband network, the company said.

“We’ll deliver Internet speeds more than 100 times faster than what most Americans have access to today with 1 gigabit per second, fiber-to-the-home connections. We plan to offer service at a competitive price to at least 50,000 and potentially up to 500,000 people,” Google wrote in its corporate blog.

Google’s plan may work, on a small scale. It is not practical to think that the search company can wire the entire nation. Verizon (VZ) spent $23 billion to build its high-speed fiber-to-the-home network. That service does not cover the entire country and Verizon already has an infrastructure set up for its landline and DSL operations which makes laying fiber across large portions of the US more practical.

Google would have to spend $50 billion to $100 billion to get its product to most American households. That won’t happen.

Douglas A. McIntyre