Google plans to start offering cellular service

Wireless service providers likely are looking over their shoulders, after Google’s plans to throw its sizeable hat in the cellular-service ring were revealed.

The Information, a technology publication, reported that Google plans to start selling mobile phone service plans to customers and manage their calls and data over a cellular network, based on information given by people familiar with the company’s plans.

Google has yet to speak on these reports.

Google’s service would initially run on the Sprint and T-Mobile networks, which are already in place, meaning the California-based tech company wouldn’t have to sink a chunk of capital into infrastructure at the start. This sort of arrangement is fairly common in the wireless industry, and Google would pay Sprint and T-Mobile for access to the cellular networks.

Sprint is the third-largest mobile carrier in the US, while T-Mobile is the fourth-largest, The Wall Street Journal reported. Verizon Wireless and AT&T are nos. 1 and 2 in the US, respectively.

The project, which is reportedly codenamed “Nova”, could be launched as early as this year, according to reports. Some Google employees have already tested the network.

While this is Google’s first foray into mobile service, the company is no stranger to the wireless business, as it makes the Android operating system that powers more than half of US smartphones and owns the Nexus line of mobile devices.

Follow Payton Guion on Twitter @PaytonGuion.