Can Google Inc. (GOOG) Squeeze Out Existing ‘Net Providers?

Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) started as just a search engine, but as the company has grown and entered into new digital segments of the tech marketplace, it has left a huge footprint, effectively leading a market space or squeezing out some competitors in those marketplaces. The International Business Times posted a story that looked into the impact Google has made in several areas, and looks into the budding Google Fiber internet service and asks the question – can Google win the market as an internet service provider?

Google Inc (GOOG)

Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) has had a Midas touch with virtually everything it has taken to market. Gmail, for example, crippled Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) and Hotmail by Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) in the e-mail business; the Chrome Web browser has taken bites out of Mozilla Firefox and Microsoft’s Internet Explorer; and when the Android operating system was introduced on mobile devices, it has become a more-than-viable competitor to Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) and its iOS.

Now, Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) is building a “fiberhood” in Kansas City to establish Google Fiber, which provides 1 gigabyte-per-second Internet speed (more than twice the going speed in the U.S.) in an attempt to become an internet service provider. Google is taking another step in that area when it announced that it would provide a free WiFi network for a Chelsea neighborhood in New York City. While Google Fiber is not a huge threat right now, Google is planning to expand its service, and with boasting its super-high speed at reasonable subscription rates – as it’s expected, as with most of its segments, that Google will make money on its advertising and operate on smaller margins for services – it likely won’t be too long before it starts taking on Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA), Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) and Time Warner Cable Inc. (NYSE:TWC) as national ISPs.

What are your thoughts about Google Fiber? Can it lead Google again to the top of another tech segment? Let us know your thoughts, and assess the future of Google stock this year.

DISCLOSURE: I have no position in any of the stocks mentioned above.

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