The head of Google’s Fiber business is leaving

Executive changes are coming to Google Access, including the departure of CEO Craig Barratt, according to sources. The company is holding a town hall-style meeting sometime soon to announce these potential changes, these sources say.

Update: the company confirmed in a blog post Barratt is leaving, and the company will halt its rollout of Fiber to new cities. The company also plans layoffs in those areas.

Barratt will stay on as an advisor to Alphabet CEO Larry Page, but it’s clear this is a setback for its broadband ambitions. The company also did not name a new CEO to replace Barratt.

Access operates as its own entity underneath the Alphabet umbrella, and runs the tech giant’s broadband internet service, Fiber. Barratt, as CEO, oversees those efforts.

A Google Access spokesperson declined to comment.

Barratt has been with Google since 2013, joining a few years after Qualcomm bought his connectivity company Atheros Communications for $3.1 billion in 2011. At the time, Barratt was CEO and president of Atheros, then became president of the new joint entity Qualcomm Atheros before leaving to join Google.

Noteworthy: Alphabet has a board meeting scheduled for Wednesday ahead of Thursday’s earnings report.

Source:http://www.recode.net/2016/10/25/13411182/google-access-executive-changes-craig-barratt