A technician gets cabling out of his truck to install Google Fiber.
George Frey | Reuters
Google said its fiber internet unit called GFiber is combining with Astound Broadband and forming an independent provider, with Google remaining as a minority shareholder.
The new company will be majority owned by investment firm Stonepeak and led by the existing GFiber executive team, “utilizing their expertise in high-speed fiber innovation to manage the combined network footprint,” Google said in a press release on Wednesday.
Google Fiber, launched in 2010, was an early effort by Google to build ultra-fast fiber-optic broadband networks in the U.S., starting with a gigabit-speed rollout in Kansas City in 2012. Google proposed building gigabit fiber connections to homes, far faster than typical U.S. internet speeds at the time.
Since then, some planned expansions were canceled and the company focused on select markets rather than a costly and time-intensive nationwide rollout.
The latest move comes as Google gets the unit to operational and financial independence at a time when the demand grows for high-capacity networks fueled by demand in AI services, among others. The external capital will help it expand across the country, the company said.
