Google Is the Last Thing the Wireless Carriers Need

[Commentary] Sprint and T-Mobile might enjoy a short-term boost in revenue and traffic from Google's announced Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVO), but they may also have let a brand new deep-pocketed competitor into the cutthroat business of stealing each other’s wireless customers.

Google likely cares little about being in the business of offering wireless service for its own sake. But as a company that generates new business from people accessing content, its interest is in driving the cost of network access as low as possible while encouraging the service providers to improve their networks. That’s why Google has entered the business of offering high-speed broadband to the home with Google Fiber. If it were simply out to drive prices lower, why bother acting at all? The industry is already doing a fine job of setting its business on fire. While T-Mobile and Sprint may feel the pressure to do a deal with Google if one believed the other was doing so, they also have the responsibility to make sure they are not digging their own graves even faster.