Google Confirms Plan to Offer Wireless Service
Search engine’s entry into U.S. wireless market likely to affect four national carriers
Sundar Pichai, senior vice president of Android, Chrome and Apps at Google Inc., told the Mobile World Congress, in Barcelona, Spain, the company plans to launch a small scale U.S. wireless service. PHOTO: ASSOCIATED PRESS
Google Inc. plans to launch a small scale U.S. wireless service and will announce details in the coming months, a top executive at the technology giant said Monday.
The service would be small in scale and not intended to compete with the big four national carriers, Sundar Pichai, who oversees Google’s mobile operating system Android, said in a presentation at an industry conference in Barcelona. Instead, it would be intended to demonstrate technical innovations that the carriers could adopt.
Nonetheless, however small, Google’s entry is likely to send ripples through a business long controlled by Verizon Communications Inc., AT&T Inc., Sprint and T-Mobile .
Mr. Pichai’s comments confirmed earlier reports of the company’s plans to launch a wireless service. Google lacks a cellphone network, but has struck deals with Sprint Corp. and T-Mobile US Inc. to resell services on their networks, people familiar with the matter have said.
The executive said Monday that Google would partner with carriers to launch the service.
WSJ
