Google Fiber pauses rollout in potential cities to 'refine' its approach

Something big is afoot over at Google, which just announced that Google Fiber rollout has been paused in the cities it has selected as 'potential' markets. This is necessary for the company to 'refine' its plan to meet new objectives it has laid out, Google says. In addition, a source has cropped up claiming Google will layoff 9-percent of the workers in 'Access,' the division that deals with Fiber.

The 'pause' was announced by Access CEO Craig Barratt, who says he will be leaving that role and instead continuing on in an advisory role. According to Barratt, everything is fine at Access — he says that 'business is solid' with a quickly growing customer base as well as revenue. Why the changes, then? Fiber is looking to change its objectives in order to 'stay ahead of the curve.'

The objectives seem to be 'pushing the boundaries of technology, business and policy,' at least per Barratt's statements. The company will start focusing on deployment methods and new tech, something that will ultimately result in better availability of superfast Internet.

Google says things will continue in cities where Fiber has already launched, or where it has started construction to establish the service. The cities already listed as potential destinations will have to remain patient, though he does suggest that talks with them will restart once these new objectives have been finished. How long that may take isn't clear.