Google, Dominant in Search, Tries Disruptor Role in Wireless and Broadband

[Commentary] Is Google an evil monopolist or a competitive champion?

In the stodgy wireless service industry, long dominated by AT&T and Verizon, with struggling Sprint and feisty T-Mobile a distant third and fourth, the possibility that a new competitor might upend this cozy oligopoly has long been considered a pipe dream. But now Google’s entry into wireless — named Project Fi — has changed the conversation about competition in that market, even though Google said the move was still an experiment. Google’s wireless business certainly seems disruptive. It takes direct aim at the fat profit margins and high prices of the dominant firms. Google’s service also uses a combination of innovative technology and partnerships with existing cellular providers to overcome its lack of wireless spectrum. Scott Hemphill, visiting professor of antitrust and intellectual property at New York University School of Law, said that Google’s inventive service shows the wisdom of the Obama administration’s having challenged the T-Mobile-AT&T transaction.

In the high-speed broadband market, even the prospect of Google’s coming to town has caused entrenched providers to improve their service in anticipation of a new competitive threat. Like many of Google’s forays into nonsearch businesses, cellular service and high-speed broadband feed users to its search business, since the more cellular usage and broadband access, and the cheaper they are, the more consumers will use Google’s search function.