Alphabet Reportedly Rethinks Its High-speed Internet Business

(RTTNews) - Google parent Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL, GOOG) is rethinking its high-speed internet business after initial rollouts proved more expensive and time consuming than anticipated, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Alphabet's internet provider, Google Fiber, has spent hundreds of millions dollars digging up streets and laying fiber-optic cables in a handful of cities to offer web connections roughly 30 times faster than the U.S. average.

The Journal reported that the company is hoping to use wireless technology to connect homes, rather than cables, in about a dozen new metro areas, including Los Angeles, Chicago and Dallas, according to people familiar with the company's plans. As a result Alphabet has suspended projects in San Jose, Calif., and Portland, Ore.

Meanwhile, the company is trying to cut costs and accelerate its expansion elsewhere by leasing existing fiber or asking cities or power companies to build the networks instead of building its own, the report said.

Google's announcement in 2010 of its Fiber project sparked high expectations at a time when telephone companies were perceived as moving slowly in rolling out faster broadband service. More than 1,000 cities applied and Google began service in the Kansas City area in November 2012. The following month, Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt told a conference that Fiber "isn't just an experiment, it's a real business and we're trying to decide where to expand next."