Google Strikes an Upbeat Note With FCC on Title II

In a rare public comment by Google on network neutrality, Google said it sees a silver lining in the potential to be regulated like a telecom company.

In a letter to the Federal Communications Commission, Google’s director of communications law Austin Schlick highlighted a potential positive for the company if Title II kicks in. As a regulated telecom service, Google Fiber would get access to utility poles and other essential infrastructure owned by utilities. The FCC should make sure this happens because it would promote competition and spur more investment and deployment of broadband internet service, Schlick argued. Gaining better access to utility poles would be a big boost for Google Fiber, which has been seen as an expensive experiment by some investors and analysts.

Hooking up homes using poles is about a tenth of the price of digging trenches across streets and sidewalks, according to Reed Hundt, who was FCC chairman in the 1990s.