Google Internet: A push to upgrade FCC plan

WASHINGTON, USA: Google's foray into broadband network building could be just the nudge US regulators need to aggressively push the private sector to offer faster Internet speeds and do so without significant government money.

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The Federal Communications Commission (FCC), which quickly praised Google's plans this week to test a super-fast Internet network, is due to submit a national broadband plan next month on how to expand Internet access to all Americans.

Google's project, essentially a challenge for fast Internet service, could give the government the leverage it needs to call on service providers to dramatically improve the current sluggish Internet speeds in the United States, compared with other developed countries.

"We have definitely been advocating that the FCC should include test-beds as part of the plan that they're delivering to Congress," said Minnie Ingersoll, a Google product manager.

Ingersoll added that, in the end, instead of advocating that someone else should build test-bed, "this is our attempt to put our money where our mouth is and step up to actually build a test-bed ourselves."

On Wednesday, Google said it planned to build a super-fast Internet network for up to half a million people, a project that could pressure telecommunications companies to loosen their control of Web access in the United States.

In building the test network, Google wants to demonstrate that a carrier could easily manage complex applications that use a lot of bandwidth without sacrificing performance.

The FCC could use Google's bold go-it-alone attempt to shift the burden of innovation from the government to the industry.

Paul Gallant, an analyst with Concept Capital, said the fact the private sector is funding a major broadband project indicates the US government might not be so willing to greatly increase current subsidies.

"The FCC doesn't have a lot of time to incorporate Google's experiment into its plan," Gallant said. "It's a signal that the FCC will heavily promote private sector deployment rather than rely on government funds."

The government does have some of its own money to play with, due to President Barack Obama's economic stimulus plan, which set aside more than $7 billion for building a high-speed Internet structure in rural areas and map broadband usage in US communities.

In December, the Obama administration released details of how it will release $2 billion in grants and loans over a period of 75 days. Some experts said the funds are not enough to make a dent in the goal of ubiquitous broadband, but could help lay the foundation for the FCC's broadband goal.

Besides being more aggressive on funding, the FCC could also use its broadband plan to set the bar higher for faster Internet speed and leave it up to the private sector to accomplish that.

Ben Scott, policy director at Free Press, a public interest group, said Verizon's fiber-optic FiOS network is already capable of achieving the gigabit speeds that Google is proposing. But he said that, together with a successful test-bed by Google, could justify the FCC's recommendations.

The issue of broadband speed has put companies on the defensive after a 2008 study by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development showed the United States ranked 19th, lagging behind Japan, South Korea and France.

Last year in response to inquiries from the FCC on how the agency should define broadband, the biggest providers urged regulators to adopt a conservative definition and argued for minimum speeds that were substantially below other nations.

The biggest broadband providers are Comcast Corp, Time Warner Inc, AT&T Inc and Verizon Communications Inc.

"Adopting a benchmark of deployment of 50 Mbps symmetrical broadband Internet service to all Americans by 2012 would be extremely difficult, if not impossible, to achieve," Comcast said in a July 2009 letter on the national broadband plan.

Those comments may no longer hold up though, if Google delivers on its promise to offer speeds of up to 100 times faster than most customers get today.

A key member of Congress, Senator John Kerry, who supports an open Internet platform, immediately jumped on Google's announcement to suggest that current broadband providers might need to follow suit.

"The lessons we learn will have implications for the implementation of a national broadband plan and whether or not we are doing enough to push the development of our communications infrastructure," Kerry said.