By Paresh Dave

Los Angeles Times

(TNS)

A Google executive said Monday that the company plans to launch a cellphone network to introduce technology that it wants to see big carriers such as Verizon Wireless and AT&T adopt.

Google expects to formally announce the service in the coming months, Sundar Pichai, the company’s senior vice president of products, told an audience at the Mobile World Congress conference in Barcelona, Spain.

The small project appears similar to what Google has done with cellphones and broadband Internet service. Google developed a line of Nexus cellphones and tablets to show off the capabilities of the Android operating system. In select cities, Google is also building a super-fast Internet service called Google Fiber. In each case, Google wanted to spur innovation among an industry’s heavyweights.

Existing wireless service carriers are expected to be involved in Google’s cellphone service in some capacity.

Separately, Google is developing drones and balloons equipped with technology to beam Internet service to small areas.

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