Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) (NASDAQ:GOOGL) seems to do everything nowadays. Among other things, the world’s leading search engine, along with Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB), is trying to bring the Internet to the world via avenues like satellites and hot air balloons.
Oh, and Google is also planning on destroying an oligopoly. While GOOG stock is down 5% in the past year — comparisons to the S&P 500’s 14% returns in that period are not favorable — Google continues to do some amazing things, and I don’t believe the GOOG stock price actually reflects those efforts.
In particular, Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA), Time Warner Inc (NYSE:TWX), Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) and their peers need to watch their backs: One of the world’s most innovative and resourceful tech giants is gunning for your business.
Gunning After the Big Boys
The folks over in Mountain View, California have no problem tackling the big issues. Plunging deeply into the Internet of Things, wearable healthcare, artificial intelligence, mapping and driverless cars, GOOG is absolutely fearless in its endeavors.
While its efforts to overtake the likes of Ford Motor Co. (NYSE:F), Toyota Motor Corp (ADR) (NYSE:TM), and General Motors Company (NYSE:GM) are years away from fruition, its efforts to disrupt and destroy the cable oligopoly are going far more swimmingly.
GOOG will reportedly launch a wireless service sometime in the first half of this year, according to the Wall Street Journal:
“Google’s service would hunt through cellular connections provided by Sprint Corp (NYSE:S) and T-Mobile US Inc (NYSE:TMUS) and Wi-Fi ‘hot spots,’ picking whichever offers the best signal to route calls, texts and data, according to people familiar with the situation.”
As if that weren’t nerve-racking enough for the participants in the cable industry’s modern-day oligopoly, GOOG is also building out a network of fiber optic cable called Google Fiber. Google Chromecast, the company’s $35 streaming device that plugs into your TV, also assaults and attempts to convert cable’s paying customers.
And let’s not forget the part where GOOG is trying to bring the Internet to the entire world.
Basically, GOOG is coming after all the moneymakers for modern-day telecom and cable companies: Internet, cable, and wireless phone service. Perhaps most threatening to the cable oligarchy are the efforts by GOOG to expand the amount of spectrum that the Federal Communications Commission allows ISPs to use. According to the Wall Street Journal, GOOG reportedly wants to
“…increase the supply of radio spectrum that can be used for Internet access, and ultimately lower the cost. Recent spectrum auctions attracted bids exceeding $30 billion from wireless carriers including Verizon Communications Inc. and AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T).”
With the debut of Sling TV from DISH Network Corp (NASDAQ:DISH) tomorrow ushering in the era of more a-la-carte, mainstream TV programming packages, traditional cable’s oligopoly is already facing some serious pressure. But GOOG is compounding that pressure, attacking cable companies on all of their major fronts.
And if the big boys don’t stop to take notice soon, they’ll be forced to notice when Google is devouring their market share.
The revolution will not be televised (but you can watch it on Chromecast).
As of this writing John Divine owns shares of GOOG stock and GOOGL stock. You can follow him on Twitter at @divinebizkid.
