Intellectual Property Law

Larry Page on C Block Bid: We Had a Long Weekend

By Cynthia Brumfield

(Washington, DC) Google co-founder Larry Page said today that Google was the winning bidder in the recent 700 MHz C Block auction...for one weekend, until Verizon topped its bid. "We had a long weekend," he said, provoking laughter from attendees at a New America Foundation breakfast here. (Webcast replay.)

Google was responsible for the inclusion of "open access" rules in the C Block chunk of spectrum and had to "put its money where its mouth is" as a consequence, Page said. But Google didn't really want to win or build the attendant wireless network because "it's not our core business." But, "if we are forced to do access, we'll do it," he said.

Page is in town to lobby government officials on behalf of open wireless network rules and to advocate for unlicensed use of "white spaces" spectrum, broadcast TV spectrum currently laying fallow due to FCC channel allocation rules. "We believe strongly in having an open environment," Page said. "It's very, very important to attach any device to the network."

He criticized the current way that the U.S. government auctions off spectrum upfront rather than license it on an ongoing basis. Page said the government could reap untold billions using a similar system for spectrum use, a not-unsuprising idea coming from someone who revolutionized Internet advertising through innovative auction techniques. With 97% of the spectrum currently unused, "I suspect that the government could make a lot of money auctioning off that 97% every second," he said.

Page was enthusiastic about Google's recent decision to invest in Sprint-Clearwire WiMax venture. "They have tremendous assets...you have a lot of opportunity."

Unlike some other wireless carriers, Clearwire is committed to the notion of an open wireless network. "Management of Clearwire is progressive in this way," Page said.

He also criticized the prospect that Microsoft and Yahoo might merge, saying that such a deal would foreclose competition in Internet communications. "We're pretty concerned that the Yahoo-Microsoft merger would close a lot of things, one of them IM," he said. "If Yahoo or MIcrosoft would merge, they'd have 90% of the communications."

"I think that's a really big risk, particularly with a company that has a history of bad behavior," he said, referring to Microsoft's history of antitrust problems. (On the other hand, a Google-Microsoft deal wouldn't raise that many antitrust hackles, Google contends, according to this article in today's NYT.)

In terms of net neutrality (which Page refers to as "open Internet"), his philosophy is a little more nuanced than some of the positions adopted by Google in legal proceedings. Although conceding that the government should regulate where abuse exists, Page didn't seem gung-ho about the concept of imposing net neutrality requirements. "Ideally I think you would have the threat of regulation accomplish this (keeping the Internet open)," he said.

Full post as published by IP Democracy on May 22, 2008 (boomark / email).