AT&T, Comcast Try To Outrace Google Fiber

Comcast and AT&T are hearing footsteps – both companies know Google Fiber is coming. Both have begun offering 1 gigabit Internet speed that Google promised six years ago, and both are signing up new customers.
Although it’s now in only four markets, reports the Chicago Tribune, competitors are lowering rates and building faster lines to keep customers from defecting to the technology giant. Because Google needs consumers to have robust Internet speed in order to sell more expensive ads on its search engine, that may be what it had in mind all along.
“There’s a lot more bark than bite” behind Google’s strategy, said Roger Entner, an analyst with Recon Analytics. “Any time Google is doing three, AT&T is doing 30 cities,” Entner said.   
In the first quarter of this year, Google parent Alphabet Inc. poured almost $280 million into capital expenditures primarily related to the fiber venture, which has resulted in lower prices for customers in its target areas. Markets that Google enters enjoy a $20-a-month drop in prices on average, Entner told the Tribune.
Consumers often stick with the incumbents, even if they get speeds slower than 1 gigabit. Many customers in Provo, UT, where Google Fiber was rolled out in 2014, managed to wrangle lower rates by calling their existing providers and threatening to switch, said Wayne Parker, chief administrative officer for the city.
At the end of March, Google introduced a phone service that can be bundled with broadband and TV, similar to what cable and telecom companies offer. It’s also trying out various business models — such as using a local utility’s fiber instead of building its own — and experimenting with wireless technology to speed up the rollout, said Jill Szuchmacher, who is directing expansion of the Fiber project for Mountain View, California-based Google.
“Our long-term goal is to create abundance in terms of connectivity and speed where there’s a scarcity,” she said. “In the cities where we are offering service, we have seen an increase in competitive offerings.”