Webpass CEO said Google Fiber acquisition to ‘accelerate deployment’ of fiber network
San Francisco-based internet service provider Webpass, according to company President Charles Barr, will be acquired by Alphabet subsidiary Google Fiber, which is the technology giant’s residential fiber internet and TV service.
Webpass provides business and residential internet service in San Francisco, Oakland and San Diego, California, as well as Miami, Chicago and Boston. For its residential connections, Webpass uses Ethernet, although the company has fiber-to-the-home service in San Francisco, with expansions ongoing in its California markets.
In terms of market overlap, Google Fiber lists San Diego and Chicago as “potential” fiber cities and San Francisco as an “upcoming” fiber city. The company’s website defines potential as the company “working with city leaders to explore the possibility of building a super fast network. … This means understanding local requirements and challenges – from roads and infrastructure to permits and utility paths.” Upcoming means the company is in the process of “stringing and laying thousands of miles of brand new, state-of-the-art fiber optic cable.”
In a post to the company’s website, Barr wrote: “Today, Webpass has tens of thousands of customers across five major markets in the U.S., and we hope to reach many more in our next chapter with Google Fiber. Webpass will continue to grow its service in current operational cities … Joining Google Fiber will be a great development for our users because the companies share the same vision of the future and commitment to the customer. Google Fiber’s resources will enable Webpass to grow faster and reach many more customers than we could as a standalone company.”
Google Fiber markets
Google’s fiber service is currently available in Provo, Utah; Austin, Texas; Kansas City, Missouri; Atlanta; and Nashville, Tennessee. Upcoming fiber cities are San Francisco; San Antonio, Texas; Salt Lake City; Huntsville, Alabama; and Charlotte and Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina. Potential fiber cities are Portland, Oregon; San Jose, Los Angeles, San Diego and Irvine, California; Phoenix; Dallas, Texas; Oklahoma City; Chicago; Louisville, Kentucky; and Tampa and Jacksonville, Florida.
Google Fiber and Webpass both provide up to 1 gigabit per second fiber-based residential internet service.
