FCC auction a potential big win for Google

Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) is probably smiling ear to ear about now. Draft rules released from the FCC this week hint at demands by technology companies will be served when the FCC auctions off 22 Megahertz of radio spectrum early next year to give telecom companies more room to offer wireless broadband connectivity services to customers. With Google itching to provide Internet connection services without bowing down to companies like AT&T, Inc. (NYSE: T), Verizon Communications (NYSE: VZ) and Qwest Communications International Inc. (NYSE: Q), it just might have that chance.

Google has been interested in providing broadband Internet services to U.S. customers for years, even going as far as anonuncing a free wireless Internet network in San Francisco last year. The company, along with other Internet content companies, continue to be frustrated by the dependence they have on traditional telephone and cable companies, which now provide almost all of the customer and business connectivity in the U.S. that allows all that high-speed web surfing, online shopping and PowerPoint email attachments.

If Google is allowed with others (Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) and eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY), for example) to compete with large, incumbent telecommunications providers, look for the company to take it to them. It has the cash, wherewithal and muscle to make a stab at some kind of national wireless Internet network that would bypass stingy telecom companies and allow Google to serve customers directly, free of net neutrality nuttiness. With the upcoming FCC auction expected to fetch up to $20 billion, I'm quite sure that FCC Chairman Kevin Martin is wanting all the bidders he can muster next year.