Maryland Business

By: Robert J. Terry

What will the ultra-fast network powering Google broadband cost to build?

Bloomberg has an answer: “Hundreds of millions of dollars,” according to Richard Whitt, the search giant’s D.C. counsel on telecommunications and media issues.

Much will depend on the size of the network, how many customers it serves and how Google will deliver the high-speed service to residences — in wires strung directly to homes or buried underground. Organizers behind Baltimore’s effort to be a test market for the network were thinking the buildout would cost $1 billion or more, a substantial investment in Charm City’s information infrastructure.

That number was based on the cost per subscriber Verizon shelled out to build its FiOS network. Verizon spent about $10,000 per customer building its $23 billion fiber network. An analyst quoted by Bloomberg thinks Google will spend $3,000 to $8,000 per home on the network. Google’s goal of reaching 50,000 to 500,000 customers would put its price tag at anywhere from $60 million to $1.6 billion.

Google says the network will deliver Web access speeds of 1 gigabit per second, more than 100 times faster than what most Americans have access to today.

The Sun’s Jay Hancock, while analyzing Baltimore’s assets as the competition heats up to win Google over, used what he called a more conservative “tens of millions” figure in his writeup on the local grassroots effort.

That effort continues to gain steam. BmoreFiber.com now boasts 764 people and 85 organizations signing up to support the push. And this morning the effort and Web address got a national plug courtesy of Mario Armstrong, who deftly worked in a quick shout-out during an NPR “Morning Edition” segment on national broadband policy with host Steve Inskeep.