Google the Telco Killer?

First, Google might partner with any number of telcos as a last-mile provider for a branded VoIP network, just as Apple recently partnered with Cingular to finish calls on its new iPhone. Google isn’t saying—but then, it’s not talking about all those unused (“dark”) fiberoptic lines it bought, either, which could enable it to start its own VoIP network with only minimal outside involvement.

Telco ambitions may partly explain why Google is heavily involved in the Net-neutrality debate, battling big phone and cable companies’ efforts to give preferential treatment to certain data streams (their own, their sponsors’, whoever pays for it) while potentially limiting others. Google sees such efforts as a threat to people’s ability to get quick search and other information from Google. In addition, an end to Net neutrality could also threaten relatively bandwidth-intensive applications like Google Talk, which carriers could slow-track in favor of their own voice or VoIP traffic.

But then, why bother trying to be a phone company when your IM client lets users bypass phone companies—even cell providers—for practically nothing? Some companies—notably Nimbuzz —already take advantage of Google Talk’s commitment to open standards. The Nimbuzz IM client lets you call IM buddies worldwide from your mobile, paying only “your cheapest local rate” for the call. As an IM client, Nimbuzz voice bypasses whatever software counts cell minutes or registers international tariffs, although the blog MobileCrunch thinks sound quality could be improved. In effect, the cell-service provider’s role and rate-setting power shrink dramatically in a world of interoperable IM clients like Google Talk.