Google doesn’t want to do any evil. Google, does, however, want to buy up a large swath of the public airwaves in order to A) become richer and B) prevent the likes of AT&T and Verizon from gouging us, the consumer, any further. The Federal Communications Commission will vote tomorrow, Tuesday, on how to handle the upcoming auction of unlicensed, unused spectrum. Google wants the spectrum in order to make a competing cellphone network that, the company says, won’t have nearly as many restrictions on it as current cellular networks do.
AT&T and Verizon want to perpetuate their iron grip on the U.S. cellphone market. Big surprise.
The actual auction won’t happen until next year, but all parties have been hard at work buttering up the pertinent politicians. AT&T and Verizon have lobbied to the tune of $21 million and $14.4 million, respectively, to get their way; Google had a lobbying budget of around $770,000. But Google also promised free ice cream to FCC members if it wins, so…
It comes down to who do you trust more: do you trust Google to continue to not be evil, or do you trust the traditional telecos to do right by you? I tend to view Google as the corporation of my generation—Google is “now” in “SportsCenter” talk. I’d much rather see Google win the auction than the dinosaurs.
FCC to Rule on Wireless Auction [Washington Post]
When it comes to answering the question, who do you trust more? I think AT&T and Verizon have both already shown their hand with their price gouging, privacy violations and slow innovation. So I think its time for the FCC to take a chance with another party like Google. Google has already proven itself in so many other areas of technology and has the financials to support such a business that it makes sense to sell them the spectrum. It certainly could not be any worse than the other two.
And while I think Google puts up a really compelling and strong argument for their bid, I would not be a bit surprised to see AT&T or Verizon get the bid. Those two corporations have long ties (lobbyist central) and deep roots ($$) with the telecommunications decision makers. With the ever increasing rampant corruption in Washington, it is entirely plausible the decision will fall into their court.
I have to agree…Google wins!