Internet giant Google is set to launch its own mobile network in the US, in a move which backs their ambitions to improve internet access globally.
Google have, on a number of occasions, expressed their frustrations at the slow pace of innovation within the telecoms industry. The US ranks below many European countries for broadband speed and affordability. Google hopes that by showing consumers that better service options are possible, they will in turn demand more from the long established operators.
Speaking yesterday at Mobile World Congress, Sundar Pichai, Senior Vice President of Products at Google said:
“While Android is innovating across hardware and software, none of it matters without connectivity. Google is investing in a wide range of new technologies to improve access, and our goal is to create abundance where there is scarcity, and one place we’re looking is to the sky, with a few different methods that could help telcos expand their existing coverage areas.”
The Journey
Pichai began his keynote speech at the tech event by talking through Google's journey to date:
"We’ve always wanted Google to be for everyone—to build things that are useful to people everywhere and help make a difference in their lives. We started with Search—if you have connectivity, you can access anything, whether you’re a Nobel Laureate at a world-class research center or a young student at a rural school in Indonesia. From search we then began to tackle other problems we discovered on the web. We asked why storage was so small on email? And so Gmail was born. Then we asked why browsers are so slow? And can we make them more secure? And so Chrome was born. Other products like Maps and YouTube reach over a billion users."
Follow our coverage of Mobile World Congress here.
Our coverage of Mobile World Congress is with thanks to HTC.
