[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Google is more than just a massive tech company that dominates the world of Internet searches. Google has been slowly but surely expanding its influence past mobile searches and into just about every mobile device we use. From telling us where to go to powering our favorite Android devices, Google has cornered the market on the information superhighway.
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Google has been incredibly shrewd in its strategies to expand its reach. Their game plan started with incorporating its search engine and mapping genius into smartphone operating systems, creating the mobile platform Android. Android has since proven to be the only thing standing between Apple and its goal of world dominance. Yet Google is not satisfied with trying to match Apple on the mobile platform and in recent years has expanded to be not just what powers a search engine but also the provider of the network behind our mobile devices.
Google’s Internet service, Google Fiber, has launched in markets such as Provo, Kansas City and Atlanta, and there are rumors that Salt Lake City may join the ranks. Google is attempting to break up the Internet provider market long dominated by companies like Comcast that generally offer poor customer service and spotty Internet speeds at often outrageous prices. Google Fiber threatens to upend their business model by offering a choice of faster speeds and lower prices.
However, Google is not stopping at just entering the Internet-provider game. Recent moves suggest Google is taking aim at being an actual mobile service provider. It is rumored that Google has struck deals with Sprint and T-Mobile to become a MVNO, which means it would be a Google-branded mobile provider that would piggyback off Sprint and T-Mobile’s cellular network. Rumors suggest that a customer would be able to buy a Google-branded phone that would have the capability to connect to either Sprint or T-Mobile’s network, depending on whatever signal is strongest.
While that alone would be big news, it is also suggestive of a larger motive. By choosing to partner with Sprint and T-Mobile as an MVNO, Google has chosen two mobile carriers that are not only a distant third and fourth place behind cellular juggernauts Verizon and AT&T but are both struggling financially and have foreign ownership. Despite T-Mobile’s recent subscriber resurgence, the company has been bleeding revenue, and its parent company, Deutsche Telekom, has made it obvious they are looking to sell T-Mobile. Sprint has also been struggling to gain and keep subscribers and loses revenue on a quarterly basis, leading its Japanese-owned parent company Softbank to question whether Sprint is capable of competing in the current marketplace.
All of this adds intrigue to Google’s decision to partner with the two companies. If the response to Google’s foray into the cellular business is favorable, it would make sense that they would look into buying both Sprint and T-Mobile. It’s likely that the FCC would be willing to approve an American-owned company buying Sprint and T-Mobile, especially if their financial struggles continue. A Google-branded conglomeration of Sprint and T-Mobile customers and infrastructure would create a credible challenger to Verizon and AT&T and shake up the mobile industry. It would be another giant step forward in Google’s attempt to dethrone Apple and become the one mobile company to rule them all.
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