Google displeased: The FCC is too slow, company says

A Google representative told on the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on Monday for taking too long to make its decisions.

At a hearing in San Jose, Calif., convened by House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), Google vice president for access services Milo Medin testified that the FCC's slow pace can cause uncertainty for businesses. 

"Agencies like the FCC all too often open up rulemaking dockets soliciting formal comments, receive a flood of documents from interested parties, and then fail to act for months or years — if they even act at all. The result is uncertainty, which is bad for business, bad for innovation and bad for investment," he said. 

That adds Google to a bevy of FCC stakeholders calling for agency reform. Top cable and phone companies wrote a searing letter to the White House this year demanding just that. House Communications subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden (R-Ore.) has said he will take up the issue this year. 

Google's comments appear to be an institutional critique of the FCC rather than a direct attack on this chairman; however, net-neutrality proponents, which famously included Google, voiced strong concerns last year with the length of Chairman Julius Genachowski's open Internet proceeding, which dragged on for over a year. 

Medin did not mention the open Internet regulations. He focused instead on the airwaves, calling on the government to move faster to clarify spectrum policies. 

In particular, he wants clarification on which airwaves will be available for unlicensed use in the aftermath of repacking, which will move broadcasters to a different part of the spectrum if the FCC gains auction authority from Congress.

Medin also advocated for a policy loathed by some parts of the cable industry: municipal broadband. 

"Localities know more about what works for their communities than state governments or the federal government do. In the end, we feel that while this is probably not the right choice in many cases, it is something that should not be prohibited," he said. 

Allowing communities to address their own broadband needs could help extend broadband to rural areas, according to Medin.

Some states, including North Carolina, are exploring a ban on municipal broadband in order to prevent the government from competing with the private sector.