Are Google's telecoms aspirations growing?

By Stuart Corner
Saturday, 22 September 2007 03:29

Opinion and Analysis

Mobile phones, wireless spectrum and now, submarine cable networks: is there no section of the communications market that Google is not planning to enter?

Rumours about the Googlephone have been circulating for months, and getting stronger. Google has been quite public about the possibility that could bid billions of dollars for wireless spectrum in the US. Now, according to the UK's Guardian newspaper, it is planning to bid for wireless spectrum in the UK. And according to Commsday is planning to invest in a planned trans-Pacific optic fibre submarine cable.

The latest reports have inevitably generated a slew of comments ranging from the usual "see: Google is out to takeover the world" to "don't be silly: what why would Google want to own infrastructure that is becoming increasingly commoditised?"

That was the response of an Information Week columnist to both stories: "It is unlikely that Google wants anything to do with selling increasingly commoditised connectivity. Quite simply, it's not a very appealing business to be in at the moment."

However it is wrong to lump both radio spectrum which enables the provision of services to end users and a direct link to end users with submarine cable capacity which is, quite simply the pipes through which data passes.

Google has a voracious appetite for submarine cable capacity. So what? Its massive data centres also have a voracious capacity for electricity, but no one is suggesting Google intends to buy into power companies or set up its own power transmission network. It has no reason to do so: it can get what it needs reliably at market rates.