Policyband

Did Google President Ruth Porat Decide the GFiber ‘Other Bet’ Wasn’t Working?

GFiber opted to combine with a company in Astound Broadband that is 85% DOCSIS technology when plenty of pure-play fiber operators are still out there. What gives?

Ted Hearn

Mar 13, 2026 — 9 min read

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Fiber: He may have been early with this call, but Charter CEO Chris Winfrey might just be right about fiber overbuilders: They are not making a decent return. In late 2023, Winfrey said, “The competitive overbuilds have slowed down because not only the financing cost is higher, but I don’t think any of it was positive ROI to begin with and I think the market’s waking up to that.” Winfrey must have been referencing Google’s GFiber, which has 2.8 million passings in 15 states, with 63% of those passings in direct competition with Charter, according to New Street Research. Winfrey’s surmise could explain why Ruth Porat, President & Chief Investment Officer of Alphabet and Google, just decided to make GFiber a junior partner to Stonepeak’s Astound Broadband. Since when does mighty Google play second fiddle to anybody? Porat has reportedly been quick to lose interest when Google’s “Other Bets” do not pan out. Did Porat give GFiber the heave-ho in a hurry? (More after paywall)