The Google factor

There's a certain paranoia in the telecom industry when it comes to Google. At one point, there was a similar paranoia about Microsoft, but that has been displaced by a mutual reliance — the software giant works closely with the telecom industry on multiple fronts, and if the two also sometimes compete, so it goes.

But Google has shown little of a cooperative nature, and that's helped feed the paranoia. Google is building dark fiber networks; Google wants to reduce the telecom industry to a dumb pipe and sell all the applications and intelligence; Google is taking over the voice-over-IP world; Google is taking over video on the Internet; Google is gaining clout in Washington, D.C., to push through its Net neutrality agenda. Each of these has been reported, rumored or repeated so often that the underlying truth is often obscured.

To be fair, Google has done little to dispel the suspicion. The company keeps its plans well-cloaked. The behind-the-scenes efforts by Google to influence how the 700 MHz auction turned out, its attempts to push the wireless industry toward openness and the current efforts to affect how so-called “white space” spectrum will be used all smack of a company that has quickly embraced and learned how to use its market power.

Even in the stock market downturn, Google is still big enough to swallow many companies whole — a fact that doesn't ease the minds of those with good reason to be fearful. Miss a trend? No problem, just buy someone who caught the wave.

Paranoia may be the logical outcome here.

But as my colleagues Rich Karpinski and Kevin Fitchard discuss starting on page 24, the role of the service provider is evolving, and Google is far from the only company to recognize that change and attempt to capitalize on it. The days of monolithic service providers who control everything for a passive consumer are gone, and lamenting them won't bring them back.

Rather than get too caught up in what Google is doing, service providers who hope to survive the transformation need to be focusing on what their customers — and the market — need and expect. Choice, to be sure, but not mass confusion. Options and features, certainly, but not massive bills. Convenience and personalization, absolutely, but not lost privacy and intrusive advertising. Get rid of the walled garden, but find an approach that doesn't overwhelm the current limitations of wireless data.

Of course, no one can afford to just ignore Google or any other major competitor — in fact, it's probably perilous to do so. So a little paranoia may be in order, as long as it comes with a whole lot of planning.