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Google fibre: Subs up, Revenue up, expansion over

Access CEO asks Google Maps for nearest exit

Google's taken another step in winding back its fibre rollouts, and Craig Barratt, CEO of the operation, is showing himself the door.

Back in April, Google axed its free fibre offering in Kansas, switching to US$50 for 100 Mbps services and $70 for gigabit services. That part of the strategy seems to have worked, since Barratt says revenues – and subscriptions – are growing where there's glass in the ground.

However, most of the rest of the Chocolate Factory's fibre rollout has been deep-sixed. As the company announces after four paragraphs of self-congratulation in Barratt's blog post, existing construction projects continue, but there won't be any new territories.

“For most of our “potential Fiber cities” — those where we’ve been in exploratory discussions — we’re going to pause our operations and offices while we refine our approaches.”

It's also bad news for staff in places carved out of the Google map, because there and “in certain related areas of our supporting operations, we will be reducing our employee base”.

“I’ve decided this is the right juncture to step aside from my CEO role. Larry has asked me to continue as an advisor, so I’ll still be around”, Barratt writes.

Google Access staff in the as-yet-unbuilt areas aren't so lucky. ®

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