google.net : like skynet but “does no evil” ?

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google.net : like skynet but “does no evil” ?

By Martin English | December 3, 2007

Google announced that it will bid in the FCC auction of wireless spectrum in the 700 MHz band.

“We believe it’s important to put our money where our principles are. Consumers deserve more competition and innovation than they have in today’s wireless world. No matter which bidder ultimately prevails, the real winners of this auction are American consumers who likely will see more choices than ever before in how they access the Internet,”

said Eric Schmidt, Google’s CEO.

Here’s what Chris Sacca from Google has to say about this:

The state of neutrality for the wireless Net in the United States was woeful. … So we built a humbling team of like-minded folks to explore what we could do to make the wireless industry more open. (…) Our mission is ambitious, but clear: do what it takes to inspire or create a mobile ecosystem in the United States that will allow user choice to flourish and level the playing field for new applications and devices. (…)

Bob Cringely puts Google’s 700MHz plans in perspective in a post from September…- here’s a taste:

“First let�s start by looking at the infrastructure Google has already built or committed to building ??” the largest fiber backbone in the world and the largest and most widely distributed data center build-out in the world. Both are FAR in excess of Google�s current or even future requirements UNLESS they are also intended to work with a massive 700-MHz wireless network.
Imagine a hybrid wireless broadband mesh network using 700-MHz connections for backhaul and some truly mobile links and WiFi for local service.”

Good luck to them. if there’s any industry that could use disrupting, it’s the wireless biz. Thinking on this I am once again reminded how much the Australian telcos resemble the Big 4 music companies in the pre-Napster era. Snuffing out or swallowing up the competition, jacking up prices while letting product quality slide, and generally jerking around their customers. Hopefully, the impact will flow over the pacific