IP Democracy: Google Is Serious About Becoming a Mobile Operator

The WSJ's Kevin Delaney and Amol Sharma have this very interesting article today about Google's plans to become a mobile network operator. The search giant scored a coup last summer by forcing the FCC to build into its upcoming “C block” 700 MHz auction a limited set of "open access" rules that enable greater flexibility in handset and application usage than the current mobile carrier market allows.

In the process, Google promised to put up $4.6 billion of its own money to bid on the spectrum if the Commission met its demands. The FCC didn't go quite as far as Google wanted, so it's been a guessing game ever since as to whether Google would go through with its bid.

According to the WSJ piece, not only is Google prepared to bid on the spectrum (without any partners if need be), but the company has been running a test-bed operation of an advanced wireless network at its Mountain View, CA headquarters, using prototype handsets that run on Google's new Android software. The company has even hired game theory specialists to help it strategize on winning during the auctions.

If Google succeeds with its plans, the U.S. mobile communications business will never be the same, even if, as some people believe, Google underestimates the challenges of running a network. Google may, in the end, find that it's just too taxing, too mundane, too boring to service consumers directly, a likely scenario. Between now and then, however, other carriers can't allow Google to innovate without somehow relaxing their own closed policies that make mobile service sluggish and costly.

Posted by Cynthia Brumfield on November 16, 2007 7:56 AM to IP Democracy