- Alphabet sold its majority stake in GFiber to Stonepeak, which will merge GFiber with Astound Broadband
- The operators will pass a combined 7.1M locations, according to New Street Research
- Google is spinning off GFiber as the hyperscaler ramps up data center capex
GFiber, formerly known as Google Fiber, is spinning off from its parent company Alphabet to merge with private equity-backed operator Astound Broadband.
Stonepeak, which acquired Astound in 2021 for $8.1 billion, will have majority control over the combined company, while Alphabet will retain a minority stake. Financials terms of the transaction weren’t disclosed, but the deal is expected to close in Q4 2026.
Ruth Porat, president and chief investment officer at Alphabet and Google, said in a statement the merger is “an exciting next phase” of GFiber’s growth. GFiber first turned up service in 2012 and as of 2025 it passed about 2.8 million fiber locations across 15 states, per New Street Research (NSR) data.
Astound, which offers a mix of fiber and cable internet as well as mobile service, counts approximately 4.5 million passings in 13 states. All told, the companies’ combined footprint will span about 7.1 million locations.
“GFiber will now have the opportunity to provide better internet access to more communities across the country as they combine with Stonepeak’s Astound business, while continuing to provide their award winning customer experience,” Porat stated.
It’s not clear whether the combined company will rebrand or if it will overbuild its existing cable footprint with fiber, but “this new entity joins Brightspeed, Uniti, and Ziply in the pantheon of private fiber residential overbuilder/aggregators,” wrote NSR analysts David Barden and Vikash Harlalka in a note to investors.
A long-awaited spinoff
The spinoff is hardly surprising, as Bloomberg in January reported Google was in talks with Radiate, the parent company of Astound, to establish a fiber joint venture with GFiber. Since 2024 GFiber has sought outside investment to fuel expansion and hired its first CFO that year – a sign the operator was preparing to become a standalone business.
Google is offloading its fiber business as hyperscalers plan to splurge on data center builds. On its Q4 2025 earnings call, Alphabet said it expects to spend up to $185 billion in capex in 2026, as Amazon, Meta and Microsoft similarly ramp spending.
Although building out networks for AI workloads is top of mind for hyperscalers, they’ve allocated some resources for broadband access.
Amazon aims to roll out its Amazon Leo satellite broadband service later this year, despite launch delays. Microsoft meanwhile has stated its Airband initiative has helped connect more than 299 million people in remote regions across Africa, Latin America and other parts of the world. The company last month announced a partnership with Starlink to combine low-earth orbit (LEO) satellite connectivity with “community-based deployment models.”