I might not be a the biggest fan of Google in a lot of ways and the whole 700Mhz spectrum wireless auction won’t have much of an immediate impact north of the 49th parallel where I live but I do find myself agreeing with Michael Arrington at TechCrunch as he weighs in on the matter

Google isn’t always not evil, but in this case they are going to bat for all of us against some players with pretty bad history when it comes to offering consumer products. I’m behind them on this. And to the FCC: please learn from past mistakes, ignore the lobbyists this time, and do what is in the best interests of the public.

While AT&T may be applying the lobbying pressure that has served them well in the past, Google, new to the whole process of public and private arm twisting is learning real quick. It also helps that they are dangling a 4.6Billion dollar carrot in front of the FCC as a minimum bid in the auction.

Telcos are well known for being an old boys club with little or no respect for the consumer. For them it is all about maximizing their profits to obscene levels and locking everyone into closed systems. Google for all its questionable intentions and self-serving reasons for pushing this issue is trying to bring its weight to bear on a technology that should be open for all users. For that we should give them a hat tip and hope that the FCC for once takes the consumer’s side instead of the old boys club.

Conversation Tags: 700Mhz spectrum auction, FCC, AT&T, Google, TechCrunch