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"We view this, in a sense, as exploiting a moment in time," Corbato said. The telecom boom of the late 1990s led to a glut in fiber assets, and the subsequent bust put undeveloped fiber on the market at bargain basement prices. "The sense of urgency in acquiring these assets has been tied to the unique opportunity that's been presented...The spot market for fiber is already going up, and most people expect these assets will get gobbled up."
Corbato says he has noticed signs of increasing interest in dark fiber from private enterprise of late, most notably among large financial institutions. Meanwhile, in December, cable giant Comcast signed a $100 million-plus deal to buy long-haul dark fiber to build out its network.
A Level3 spokesman declined to comment when told of Google's job posting.
Corbato also declined to speculate about Google's plans. But he said fiber optic expertise is a natural fit for a company like Google.
"If I were the CIO of an international information technology company, I would think that having these types of skills would be a natural to have within the organization."
Any ideas about what's going on?
Pure speculation on my part, but first, if Google believes the "dark fiber" is dirt cheap, then it may make sense..It's similar to the airline pioneers staking out routes. Once they have it, then regulatory conditions might make a Google with dark fiber capacity untouchable in a hostile takeover...
Good discussion of what dark fiber is......
This is the Dark Fiber thread.....the Waspman made a pretty liberal interpretation of what it was about.
See #16 for the start ......