Google Is Starting To Act Like Your Garden-variety Monopoly

Those are the harsh words of Fortune Editor Brent Schlender. For those of us “in the field”, who have been dealing with Google for quite some time, the words are not that surprising to hear. Schlender, of course, isn’t in the search engine area of business where Google operates, but he watched how they dealt with others over an FCC wireless spectrum auction. The company, naturally, wasn’t interested in the investment in a passive sense, but rather wants the whole game to be changed in order to assure their involvement.

Now we come to the hubris part. Google promised the FCC it would bid at least $4.6 billion to purchase spectrum rights - but only if the FCC met all of Google’s terms. Specifically, the FCC must ensure that all networks using the new parcels of spectrum be “open platforms.” That means four things: (1) The new networks must allow consumers to use any device they desire; (2) they would support standard software like Internet browsers and e-mail; (3) network operators would be required to lease some capacity to other providers; and (4) the new networks would all have to be mutually compatible. In other words, Google wants this spectrum to behave a lot like the Internet.

The true telecom giants like AT&T and Verizon Wirless felt like Google attacked their mothers when they heard the news. They have been living off closed systems for years, and since they built the network, understadably feel like they should make profit from their closed systems.

The real question for Google’s continued success seems to be: can they do it if they keep pissing off everyone that could be a potential partner of customers? Time will tell.