Google MVNO trial launches in Spain

Google's ambitions to become a carrier have been whispered about since at least the launch of the Nexus One. Now, according to new reports, the once-search-engine has made actions of its intentions, launching an MVNO trial in Spain.

Select Google employees in Spain have received starter phone kits that include Nexus S devices and Google-branded SIM cards that run over the Movistar, Orange or Vodafone networks but brand the service "Google_es," Telecom Paper is reporting, citing Spain's El Otro Lado.

"The staff will test which of the three networks is more suitable for a possible future launch of Google's MVNO," states the report. "The service will initially allow Google to perform Google Voice quality testing when paired with a Nexus S handset."

Google, following Apple's winning formula, these days of course controls the essential triumvirate of mobile components: mobile hardware, a mobile operating system and a popular app marketplace. Given its close ties to U.S. carriers, becoming one itself would create a tension outdoing even the partner-or-competitor awkwardness created by its recent acquisition of Motorola (CP: Google acquires Motorola Mobillity to 'supercharge' Android, battle Apple). That is, if — or when — it brings the service to its home turf.

In January Google enabled smartphone owners to port their phone numbers to Google Voice. The service already enabled mobile subscribers to sidestep their carrier, sending texts and making calls over VoIP, and porting moved Google more aggressively into the driver's seat (Unfiltered: Portability could finally grant Google Voice game-changer status).

Given the inexpensive nature of VoIP, and the low handset prices (and subsidy savings) made possible by the Motorola acquisition, Google could become a quadruple threat in a market that's yet had to contend with such an option.

Would the FCC allow it? That's a bridge Google will no doubt cross when it's good and ready.