Google Muscles In On Airwaves Auction
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
WASHINGTON — The Federal Communications Commission will set the rules tomorrow governing the auction of $15 billion of public airwaves, a decision with stakes so high that the major American cellular carriers and Google have spent millions of dollars on a lobbying campaign in an attempt to influence the outcome. The decision could dramatically alter the nation’s cell phone industry.
Google, the Internet search company, wants to extend its popular tools, including e-mail and video, to the rapidly expanding mobile phone market. To do so, it may spend billions to build an open network it says will loosen the grip telecom operators have on how consumers use their cell phones. The major wireless carriers largely decide which Web sites, music-download services, and search engines their customers can access on their cell phones.
