Google Fiber Bark Worse Than Market Bite For Comcast, AT&T: Report
Google Fiber had only 53,390 TV customers as of Dec. 31, said a MoffettNathanson report, which added that parent Alphabet ’s ( GOOGL ) public relations bounty from the service is “wildly out of all proportion” to its actual market share gains vs. AT&T ( T ) and other cable TV players. The Google unit sells high-speed Internet and TV services in four markets and has trumpeted expansion plans. Google Fiber bundles video and gigabit-per-second broadband service for $130 monthly and also sells stand-alone Internet for $70 monthly. Google Fiber is currently available in Austin, Texas; Provo, Utah; Kansas City, Mo., and neighboring Kansas City, Kan. Google announced plans early in 2015 to expand the service to San Antonio; Nashville, Tenn.; Atlanta; Charlotte, N.C.; Raleigh-Durham, N.C.; and Salt Lake City. It’s also deep in talks with other potential markets. Telecom companies have been alarmed over Alphabet-owned Google Fiber’s recent spate of announcements. AT&T in February sued Louisville, Ky., over a new law that would make it easier for companies like Google Fiber to install gigabit Internet networks using existing utility poles. Comcast ( CMCSA ) in early February stepped up its marketing in Atlanta in anticipation of Google Fiber’s arrival. MoffettNathanson analyst Craig Moffett says Google Fiber likely has more broadband customers than TV subscribers, but the firm’s study didn’t track broadband. Still, he says that Google Fiber’s relatively few TV customers, based on data from the U.S. Copyright Office, raises questions over the media hype the service has garnered. “The addition of less than 12,000 subscribers over the span of six months for a service that has generated this kind of fanfare isn’t terribly impressive,” wrote Moffett. Alphabet hasn’t given any subscriber figures for Google Fiber, nor any financials. The business is grouped in its quarterly earnings into what Alphabet calls its “other bets” — basically including all businesses other than the core Google units. Google has been in talks with local governments in Portland, Ore., San Jose, Calif., and Phoenix to expand its service to those markets. In late 2015, Google Fiber said it might enter Chicago or Los Angeles. And in late February, Google Fiber said San Francisco was also on its expansion list. “Google has made a number of splashy announcements. Taken together, they have a rather provisional feel, as if the company is still experimenting,” Moffett wrote. “Each market is different, and seemingly intentionally so. The goal doesn’t seem to be how much ground they can cover. It seems to be how many different business models they can showcase.”