14 DAY TRIAL // Google Fiber has a new chief after the company hired Dennish Kish, former senior VP and general manager at Qualcomm, to lead the ultra-high speed Internet service.
The fiber optic gigabit Internet service is now going to be led by Kish, who is taking over from Milo Medin, who in his turn will now stay on board as an advisor and act as Vice President. Kish has actually been working for Google since July of this year, according to his LinkedIn page.
The Wall Street Journal reports that Kish was brought in due to his operational expertise. Thanks to his previous experience, he will now be able to lead Google Fiber’s expansion to new cities.
Albeit slow, Google has been steadily working its way through several cities, adding neighborhood after neighborhood. The company offers high speed Internet and television for a relatively low price compared to competitors.
Google has been questioned about the purpose of Fiber; whether it is a full-fledged business that it intends to grow as a proper competitor to other Internet Service Providers in the US, or it is just a means to an end – namely an effort to bring in even more visitors to its services, such as the search engine or YouTube.
What’s Google’s end game?
Google Fiber offers Internet connections at one gigabit per second, which is about 100 times faster than typical broadband connections. The Internet giant considers that other providers aren’t offering the best services out there and has been pushing for lower prices and better speeds.
The company’s competitors have already started cutting down the prices in the areas where Google Fiber is available, which is exactly what the company was hoping for.
Of course, it’s in Google’s best interest for people to have access to fast Internet connections at low prices, since it has plenty of products out there, including some that can be considered as “data hogs,” such as YouTube.
Google Fiber’s most expensive monthly package costs $120 (€92.6) and includes 1,000 Mbps Internet and over 150 channels. Comcast, for example, offers 140 channels and Internet speeds of up to 25 Mbps, as well as voice calls for $99 (€76.4). Comcast does have a package with speeds of up to 150 Mbps where the Internet alone costs $89.99 (€70) per month.
Kish will be reporting to Craig Barratt, Google’s senior VP for access and energy, who is one of Larry Page’s top advisers.