Recent reports indicate that Google may be considering sticking its fingers into another pie: mobile service. That's right, in Google Fiber cities, mobile service providers could include AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile and...Google.
It may sound preposterous, but stranger things have happened. It is also not that big of a leap from being an Internet provider, like Google is with Fiber, to becoming a mobile service provider. Google has also worked with Sprint in the past with its Googe Voice package, which was included on smartphones sold by Sprint.
This most recent report that Google is in talks with Verizon about working together to provide mobile service in Fiber cities, references several anonymous sources familiar with Google's plans. The report indicates that Google executives have approached both Sprint and Verizon with the idea of becoming a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO). If Google became a MVNO, it would buy access to a big wireless network like Verizon at a wholesale price and then resell it under the Google brand to customers in Fiber cities.
Google has already installed high-speed Fiber Internet in Kansas City, Missouri and Provo, Utah. It has plans to make Austin, Texas; Atlanta, Georgia; Portland, Oregon; San Jose, California and six more cities into Fiber cities soon, too. Although this fiber infrastructure is mainly intended for Internet use, it could also be used for a Google-based mobile network.
Some reports hint that if Google offers mobile service, it could partially depend on Wi-Fi and Fiber Internet connections some of the time. A few mobile networks like Sprint already use Wi-Fi hotspots in cities to ensure that service works well even when the network is severely congested.
It is unknown if Google's plans will come to fruition any time soon, if ever, but once again, Google has turned an industry on its head just by thinking differently.
