Google Fiber Huntsville deal could remake broadband market

[Commentary] The announcement that the municipally-owned electric utility in Huntsville (AL) will lease its fiber lines to Google could transform how municipalities provide broadband access. What makes the Huntsville news potentially transformative is that the service provider is Google Fiber.

The Huntsville model changes Google’s path to scale as it potentially decentralizes construction efforts to multiple cities. Further, it represents the first effort by a major company to decouple ownership of the fiber network from providing Internet services, potentially forcing both incumbents and other tech companies to rethink their strategies. The model also provides cities a new tool to accelerate the delivery of abundant bandwidth to its residents. One can see a number of forces—cities, construction companies, finance companies—joining forces to construct, and in some places complete, dark fiber networks far faster than Google Fiber has been doing with its current model. The new model also allows a city to address a number of city specific policy objectives, such as enterprise zones and closing the digital divide, along the way. This path resembles how America built out its electric grid; through local, rather than national efforts. Further, the model expands the number of communities that will benefit from the “game of gigs,” in which a Google announcement generates a network upgrade announcement from the incumbent telco and cable company.

In short, if Google, or others, offer this opportunity broadly, it provides a win for cities that want new broadband options but without taking on problematic risks, a win in accelerating America achieving affordable, abundant bandwidth, and a win for America’s efforts to lead in the broadband delivered global information economy.