GOOG Alphabet Inc

By Jack Nicas 

Alphabet Inc.'s high-speed internet business Google Fiber got a new chief executive on Wednesday -- and shed several hundred employees -- as it aims to soon start providing service wirelessly instead of relying on underground fiber-optic cables.

The new CEO of Access, the Alphabet unit that is mostly Google Fiber but also includes some small internet projects, is Greg McCray, a longtime broadband executive who most recently led broadband-technology firm Aero Communications Inc. in Michigan. Former Access chief Craig Barratt stepped down in October amid a shift in the company's strategy.

A spokeswoman said several hundred Access employees were moving to new jobs at Google or other Alphabet companies. Google Fiber already cut 9% of its workforce when Mr. Barratt stepped down and suspended expansion plans in 11 U.S. metro areas.

The Access cuts on Wednesday affect more employees than the October layoffs, a person familiar with the matter said, and most affected employees are at the company's California headquarters versus staff in cities where Google Fiber is rolling out.

The moves cap a tumultuous six months for Google Fiber in which it halted growth plans and acquired a competitor, all in pursuit of a new strategy that it hopes would ultimately cut costs and accelerate its expansion.

Google Fiber is now focused on developing a way to deliver high-speed internet to homes and businesses wirelessly, which would save it the trouble of digging up streets and lawns to lay fiber-optic cable. Its rollout of fiber-based internet service in a handful of U.S. cities since 2012 has been more expensive and time-consuming than expected.

"We want to bring Google Fiber to customers faster, so we're focused on making deployment more efficient and less intrusive," a spokeswoman said in an email.

However, the company continues to work on ways to lay fiber more efficiently as those cables are likely to be a component of any network.

To aid its shift to wireless, Google Fiber in July acquired Webpass Inc., another high-speed internet provider that mostly uses wireless technology.

Google Fiber and Webpass together serve more than a dozen U.S. metro areas, and a Google Fiber spokeswoman said the companies would continue that service and add new customers there. Google Fiber is also moving forward on previously announced plans to expand service to three other cities: Louisville, Ky.; Huntsville, Ala.; and San Antonio.

Write to Jack Nicas at jack.nicas@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 15, 2017 21:57 ET (02:57 GMT)

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