Google Fiber has only 53k video customers

Google Fiber has just 53,000 pay-TV subscribers, according to a new report by MoffettNathanson analyst Craig Moffett. The report estimates that Google Fiber had just 12,189 video subscribers in Kansas City, KS; 37,338 in Kansas City, MO; 2,718 in Provo, UT; and only 941 in Austin, TX – numbers that belie the degree of fanfare Google Fiber generates.

“The number of subscribers to Google's fiber service remains astonishingly low,” Moffett said. "This latest data is a useful barometer of just how slowly all this happens, and just how tiny Google Fiber remains in the grand scheme of things.”

This report reiterates findings from a study at the end of last year. A Bernstein Researchstudy described Google’s deployment of its fiber service as “slow and limited,” estimating Google Fiber’s total paid subscriptions – video and Internet – between 100,000 and 120,000. The report further described these numbers as “a very small number that likely plays into the incumbents' default belief that deploying and operating wireline networks at scale is much harder than commonly thought.”

Still, Google plans toexpand its fiber service. The company announced in December that it’s looking to bring fiber service to Chicago and Los Angeles, adding to the list of 9 cities where its service is currently available or being deployed.

Analyst: Google Fiber Has Just 53,000 TV Customers (DSL Reports, Mar. 4, 2016)

Google’s Fiber deployment: “slow and limited” (Speed Matters, Oct. 19, 2015)

AT&T, Google announce fiber expansion (Speed Matters, Dec. 9, 2015)