Access loses another CEO, Larry Page reiterates commitment to Google Fiber

[Jos]

Access, the division of Alphabet that runs Google Fiber, had announced last year they'd dramatically cut back on its plans to expand its fiber rollout. The company lost its CEO and was leaderless until March when broadband veteran Greg McCray was brought in to steer the ISP in a new direction. After just five months in the job, McCray has stepped down from his post and the future of the company that was meant to disrupt the broadband business looks uncertain.

The reasons for McCray’s sudden departure are still unclear, however according to Bloomberg, the CEO didn’t exactly have a smooth start at the company. He upset staff and caused a number of HR complaints over sexist comments during his first address to Access employees.

Alphabet CEO Larry Page said in a statement that the company is "committed to the success of Google Fiber" and was looking for a new leader to manage the business. "We are committed to the success of Google Fiber. The team is bringing gigabit connections to more and more happy customers. Fiber has a great team and I'm confident we will find an amazing person to lead this important business."

Google had big ambitions for Fiber, promising speeds 10 to 20 times faster than competing services and more affordable prices. It rolled out in several markets, of which Kansas City was the first in 2012, but deploying fiber is slow and expensive.

Eventually the company switched gears to focus on wireless as a replacement for the "last mile" of wiring. Although at the time the company said it would still deploy its service in markets it had already committed to, back in March it cancelled hundreds of new installations in Kansas City.

"Other Bets," the division of Alphabet that Google Fiber is in, had an operating loss of $3.6 billion last year. In an attempt to become profitable again, Alphabet stopped their drone delivery project, spun off its self-driving car technology to Waymo, and scaled back on Google Fiber.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/70180-access-loses-another-ceo-larry-page-reiterates-commitment.html

 

[Greg S]

Google Fiber does have great potential, but it's the issue of just not being available for enough people. The goal should be to get people to visit more websites with Adsense even faster than before, which is where the real money is at for Google.

 

[stewi0001]

Google Fiber does have great potential, but it's the issue of just not being available for enough people. The goal should be to get people to visit more websites with Adsense even faster than before, which is where the real money is at for Google.

I'm guessing that Alphabet doesn't care about long term investments. Heck, they got rid of Boston Dynamic.

 

[Uncle Al]

One of their bigger problems is distribution. In most cities the "utility" that set the original pole, owns it and anyone that wants to hang their wires on it must pay a fee and get approval. With AT&T owning the majority of poles around Nashville, they were able to bring the project there to a standstill. Until Google has enough sense to approach the states & cities up front and remove this archaic ownership blockage there will continue to be problems. What I'm most surprised is that their Project Managers didn't figure this problem out up front ... but then again, they turned down my application so it serves them right! ROFLMAO

 

[mbrowne5061]

Google Fiber does have great potential, but it's the issue of just not being available for enough people. The goal should be to get people to visit more websites with Adsense even faster than before, which is where the real money is at for Google.

I'm guessing that Alphabet doesn't care about long term investments. Heck, they got rid of Boston Dynamic.

Yeah, selling BD would be like selling your stake in Ford or Wright Brother's Bicycles just because the first cars and planes couldn't go very far, very fast, and were going to put buggy drivers out of business. It will go down as their greatest mistake.