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Google fiber is dead internally. My friend works there said the org has been reduced and employees repurposed to other orgs.

jrockway 8y ago
That is indeed why I left Google, but that was almost two years ago at this point. Last I heard they changed their mind and are starting things back up with brand new people. Being an ISP is just too appealing a business model. It's 95% profit once you've paid off the loans for the infrastructure. And when you're Google, you don't need loans.
- rayiner 8y ago
  > It's 95% profit once you've paid off the loans for the infrastructure. This is FUD, and it doesn't even pass the smell test.[1] Maintaining broadband infrastructure is incredibly labor intensive (and the required labor is high-skill and often unionized). To use Chattanooga's EBP as an uncontroversial example: https://static.epb.com/annual-reports/2017/media/EPB_2017_Financial_Report.pdf https://static.epb.com/annual-reports/2017/media/EPB_2017_Fi.... In FY 2017, it's fiber optic division had revenues of $150 million and expenses of $122 million (not including interest on the underlying fiber optic system, which it looks like is accounted for on the electricity side of the business). That's an operating profit margin of about 20%,[1] which is actually pretty good. Verizon's wireline division in most years has an operating profit margin of under 5%. (EBP, being in a right-to-work southern state, almost certainly has lower labor expenses than Verizon, with its primarily north-east footprint.) [1] And that's before taxes. A telco can't pull a double Irish with a Dutch sandwich because all its revenues and expenses are domestic. Verizon's effective income tax rate prior to the Trump cuts was 34%: https://247wallst.com/telecom-wireless/2018/01/23/verizon-earnings-outlook-get-boost-from-new-tax-law https://247wallst.com/telecom-wireless/2018/01/23/verizon-ea....

jrockway 8y ago

That is indeed why I left Google, but that was almost two years ago at this point. Last I heard they changed their mind and are starting things back up with brand new people. Being an ISP is just too appealing a business model. It's 95% profit once you've paid off the loans for the infrastructure. And when you're Google, you don't need loans.

rayiner 8y ago
> It's 95% profit once you've paid off the loans for the infrastructure. This is FUD, and it doesn't even pass the smell test.[1] Maintaining broadband infrastructure is incredibly labor intensive (and the required labor is high-skill and often unionized). To use Chattanooga's EBP as an uncontroversial example: https://static.epb.com/annual-reports/2017/media/EPB_2017_Financial_Report.pdf https://static.epb.com/annual-reports/2017/media/EPB_2017_Fi.... In FY 2017, it's fiber optic division had revenues of $150 million and expenses of $122 million (not including interest on the underlying fiber optic system, which it looks like is accounted for on the electricity side of the business). That's an operating profit margin of about 20%,[1] which is actually pretty good. Verizon's wireline division in most years has an operating profit margin of under 5%. (EBP, being in a right-to-work southern state, almost certainly has lower labor expenses than Verizon, with its primarily north-east footprint.) [1] And that's before taxes. A telco can't pull a double Irish with a Dutch sandwich because all its revenues and expenses are domestic. Verizon's effective income tax rate prior to the Trump cuts was 34%: https://247wallst.com/telecom-wireless/2018/01/23/verizon-earnings-outlook-get-boost-from-new-tax-law https://247wallst.com/telecom-wireless/2018/01/23/verizon-ea....