More information regarding Google's plans to become a wireless carrier is leaking out from the reliable tech news spigot The Information. Google is reportedly prepared to enter the wireless carrier business by striking deals with Sprint and T-Mobile for access to mobile voice and data networks.


The project is codenamed "Nova," according to The Information's Amir Efrati citing three people with knowledge of the plan. It would make Google a mobile virtual network operator, or an MVNO. Think Tracfone. That means that tying together two major networks onto one, Google would be effectively doubling its coverage. Or at the very least, securing a pretty strong network.

Should this come as a surprise? Not really. Rumors have been circulating about Google's plans to get into the carrier business for awhile now, and in October, FCC filings brought even more weight to just previous hearsay. Also, Google has pretty much exhausted all the disparate ways to deliver internet to people, including Google Fiber, Project Loon, bunches of drones, and its recent $1 billion interests in SpaceX to build some space innanet. Why not go the mobile network route, too!


That would mean you could fully commit yourself to the Google cult, by buying Google hardware, with Google software, on a Google-run wireless carrier. All Google all the time and no other company muddying up the experience. So Google's wireless plans could be a huge boon for its Nexus lineup.

We may be hearing much more about this Google-branded carrier sooner than you'd think. The Information says that the company wanted to originally launch the wireless service last fall. [The Information]