Hard times for Google's Fiber rollout

Google’s ambitious plan of launching its Fiber broadband and TV service and signing up around 5 million subscribers in five years isn’t going as planned. Though the service officially went live in the Salt Lake City, Utah on August 24th, but the laying out of all that fiber optic cable is reportedly making Alphabet's company an exorbitantly costly affair.

According to a new report from The Information, those costs have prompted Larry Page and Sergey Brin to push Google Fiber away from its original plan and move towards a cheaper wireless standard.

The report cites low subscriber numbers, as well as some disputes between Page and Fiber CEO Craig Barratt as the main reasons for the shift in focus. Page, who is known for setting hard targets, reportedly instructed Barratt to cut the cost of the home internet by a tenth and slash his 500-person staff in half.

The modification from fiber to wireless, however, isn’t recent development. In June, after Alphabet Chairman Eric Schmidt discussed the possibility of using gigabit WiFi to cover the last mile, Google Fiber scooped up Webpass - a company that was already using a combination of fiber and high-speed wireless connections to do just that. Earlier this month, Google also started seeking permission to test wireless broadband in 24 other US locations, although those tests will likely be limited to Google employees to start.