Jessica Guynn

USA TODAY

SAN FRANCISCO — Google Access, the Alphabet subsidiary that oversees Google Fiber, has a new boss: Broadband executive Gregory McCray.

The top job at Google Access has been vacant since October when Craig Barratt abruptly announced his resignation. Alphabet said at the time that it had halted expansion plans for Fiber, its ultra-high-speed Internet initiative.

The halt fueled speculation that Alphabet may sell off Google Fiber. Bloomberg reported Wednesday that Access is shedding several hundred employees who are moving over to positions at Google.

Google Fiber did not directly respond to those reports on Wednesday.

"We’re thrilled that Greg has agreed to join as CEO, to drive this innovation and to grow the business," Google Fiber said in an emailed statement.

Google Fiber halts rollout; top exec leaves

McCray, formerly the CEO of telecom services provider Aereo Communications, also sits on the board of telecom company CenturyLink, which the tech industry news outlet The Information said could be a buyer for Google Fiber.

“Google Fiber has been instrumental making the web faster and better for everyone — something I’ve been passionate about my entire career. I’m thrilled to lead Access as we continue in our mission to connect more people to abundant access, on networks that are always fast and always open," McCray said in a statement.

Fiber is striving to bring Internet speeds of one gigabit per second to cities around the country, but progress has been slow.

Google Fiber is in eight metropolitan areas and is committed to building in another four. It has been rethinking how it delivers speedy broadband access, shifting to wireless, a less expensive alternative to digging up streets and laying down fiber cables.

"Google Fiber remains focused on our customers and cities. We want to bring Google Fiber to customers faster, so we’re focused on making deployment more efficient and less intrusive," Google Fiber said in a statement.