The new service is expected run on Sprint and T-Mobile’s networks, two people familiar with the product say. Google is expected to reach deals to buy wholesale access to those carriers’ mobile voice and data networks, making it a mobile virtual network operator, or MVNO, they say.

I’m kind of ambivalent about this, to be honest. Google has never done a very good job selling phones, so I don’t know how they will make this work. I’m just having a hard time wrapping my head around it.