A new fiber giant takes shape as GFiber and Astound combine

(Source: JJ Ying/Unsplash)

Another wave of consolidation has reached the US broadband sector. 

GFiber (a.k.a. Google Fiber) and Stonepeak announced Wednesday that they've entered into a deal to combine GFiber with Astound Broadband, an operator majority-owned by Stonepeak. 

Financial terms were not announced, but the resulting company will be majority owned by Stonepeak, with Alphabet, GFiber's parent, becoming a "significant minority shareholder," they said.

Stonepeak Infrastructure Partners teamed with Patriot Media to acquire Astound in November 2020 for $8.1 billion. Stonepeak is Astound's largest investor. 

GFiber's exec team to lead the combined company 

The deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2026. The combined business will be led by the existing GFiber executive team. GFiber is currently led by CEO Dinni Jain. Jain, a former Time Warner Cable and Insight Communications exec, took the helm of what was then called Google Fiber in 2018. 

Related:Alphabet on the hunt for GFiber investors – report

The transaction is coming together nearly a month after Bloomberg reported that Google was in talks with Stonepeak to set up a joint venture that would contain the company's fiber assets and include Astound. In 2024, Reuters reported that Alphabet was seeking outside investors for GFiber and that GFiber had hired a bank to start selling equity in the company. T-Mobile, which has been snapping up fiber assets in recent years, was among those that showed interest in acquiring or partnering with GFiber, a source tells Light Reading. 

But the overarching goal of that exercise, Reuters said, was for GFiber to eventually operate independently of Alphabet (GFiber is currently tucked into Alphabet's "other bets" unit, which also includes Verily and Waymo). Today's deal seems to get that done, as Stonepeak and GFiber billed the combination as a "leading independent fiber provider." 

"This agreement advances GFiber's mission of redefining internet connectivity and represents a major step toward its goal of operational and financial independence," the companies said. "GFiber will have the external capital and strategic focus needed to accelerate its next phase of growth, expanding its customer-first approach and pioneering fiber technology across the country." 

GFiber's combination with Astound represents "a strategic opportunity to scale our customer-focused approach to connect more households to a truly different type of internet service," Jain said in a statement.

Complementary footprints 

The combined company will have little to no overlap. 

Astound Broadband, the umbrella company/brand for operators previously known as RCN, Grande Communications, Digital West and enTouch Systems, serves more than 4 million homes largely with fiber and cable, along with some limited use of fixed wireless access (FWA). It serves parts of eastern Pennsylvania, Texas, Indiana, Massachusetts, Maryland, California, Oregon and Washington, along with major markets such as New York City, Chicago and Washington, DC.

Related:Astound Broadband jumps into the mobile fray

Astound launched a mobile service in 2023 in partnership with Reach and T-Mobile, and offers its own video service based on TiVo's platform alongside a marketing and sales partnership with DirecTV's streaming service. It's not clear how Astound's array of services will be used and supported post-transaction, but there was nothing in the announcement indicating that any changes are coming. 

Stonepeak and GFiber officials declined to comment beyond what was in the official announcement. 

Google Fiber selected Kansas City, Kansas, as its first market in 2011 and began connecting customers there in late 2012. Google Fiber put its expansion plans on hold in 2016 and then, under Jain, started ramping up again in 2022. 

GFiber, which uses fiber primarily along with some FWA-based services delivered through Webpass, has not disclosed any recent homes passed or customer numbers, but it is nearing the 1 million subscriber mark, according to an industry source. GFiber serves parts of Alabama, Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah and Washington. 

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