The FCC will set rules governing the auction of $15 billion of public airwaves tomorrow. A decision is due before noon ET. Snip from piece by Kim Hart in the Washington Post today, which explains why the stakes here are high enough that Google and various telecommunications companies have spent millions on lobbying efforts to influence the outcome:
Google, the giant Internet search company, wants to extend its popular tools, which include e-mail and video, to the rapidly expanding mobile phone market. To do so, it may spend billions to build a new, open network it says will loosen the grip telecom operators have over how consumers use their cellphones.
Currently, the major U.S. wireless carriers, including AT&T and Verizon Wireless, largely decide which Web sites, music-download services and search engines their customers can access on their cellphones. This is accomplished by wireless companies determining which cellphones will receive their services: AT&T, for example, is the only carrier available to users of Apple's iPhone.
Google wants to end that restriction and has urged the FCC to require the winner of the auction to build a network that will be open to all cellphones and services, so any consumer can have access to Google's array of offerings.
