Providing wireless Internet looks like one potential for all the fiber Google has bought, but maybe they want to be more than that.
Editor’s note: Google VoIP, Google Pay-Per-Call, Google Phones? Maybe? Phone in your opinion on WebProWorld.
It’s Friday, always a day when writers everywhere dig deep into the mire of probability, speculation, and silliness, in order to find material and feed the ever-hungry audience on the web. For those in the tech world, the Google Game has become a weekly rite. Playing the game is easy – just follow what Google does and project what they intend to do.
Today’s version plays upon other theories regarding Google and its acquisition of lots of unused ‘dark fiber’. Om Malik and others have theorized about the potential for Google delivering ads, videos, maps, and other web content.
What if it’s all about voice? Perhaps the vision of a wireless broadband network operated out of Mountain View is about VoIP instead of any of those services.
The announcement by Intrado of its V9-1-1 Mobility Service looks like another piece of the puzzle needed to ensure compliance with FCC 911 requirements. This component lets wireless VoIP providers have customer access to the emergency network. Failings in this area by Vonage and others have led to lawsuits and FCC involvement in resolving the problem.
“(I)f you want to offer Internet telephone service, you need to make sure your subscribers have access to the dedicated wireline 9-1-1 network,” Intrado cites William Stofega, Research Manager with IDC’s Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) Services Program, in a statement. “For any wireless carrier considering making the move into VoIP, solutions like Intrado’s are worth investigating.”
That last statement should cause major wireless carriers like Cingular, Verizon, Sprint Nextel, and T-Mobile to reach for the antacids. Why? Well, Google just doubled its cash pile, and Intrado has been the focus of takeover rumors ever since Roy Disney started complaining about the company’s business and compensation plans in July.
There’s some sentiment among dissident Intrado investors that the company is undervalued. By extending their 911 call routing software to wireless VoIP uses, ensuring emergency calls can be routed correctly, Intrado has made itself a much more attractive target.
Google could pickup Intrado, set up a holding company or outsource customer service and sales of wireless handsets, and partner with a firm like LG to develop a Google branded device. Those handsets could have access to Google applications embedded, and deliver ads to users of those applications.
Its foray into print ads that include call-back numbers shows Google may be ready to delve more deeply into the pay-per-call advertising model. The geocoding used with Google Maps would allow them to target ad sales all the way down to a single street.
Google Talk is free. A Google Phone could be nominally priced, with VoIP supported by advertising. Since Google would own the network, by virtue of all that dark fiber it’s purchased, its costs to carry calls would be much less. Maybe it’s time to take another look at Google Mobile services; they appear to be ready to take advantage of this proposal.
David Utter is a staff writer for Murdok covering technology and business. Email him here.
