A12 Economy & Business google from A1


viders such as Verizon for extra space on their “pipeline” into American homes, they said. “We both recognize that wire- less is in a slightly different place than wireline,” Verizon chief ex- ecutive Ivan Seidenberg said in a news media call. “What we’re concerned about is the imposi- tion of too many rules up front that would not allow us to opti- mize . . . the supercharged growth we’ve seen in the past.”


Closing ranks The announcement illustrates


a shift in direction for Google, which has been the corporate evangelist for open network prac- tices, particularly on wireless networks. Three years ago, Goo- gle’s top executives were lobbying the Federal Communications Commission to break open the closed nature of wireless net- works, with rules that would al- low a consumer to put any wire- less device on any network and access any software or Web site. But now that Google has part- nered with Verizon Wireless to


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KLMNO


TUESDAY, AUGUST 10, 2010 With Verizon deal, Google’s stance as gentle giant is questioned


make cellphones based on its An- droid software, the fastest-selling smartphone platform currently, the search company says it un- derstands the unique bandwidth constraints on mobile networks. This is the big frontier, where analysts say Google needs to ex- tend the cash-machine ad service that has experienced such great success with desktop Internet us- ers. In their announcement, the Internet giants said that “net neutrality” rules, as they are called, would be too “onerous” for the mobile phone market. “There is a lot of concern that


the flexibility that Google is will- ing to give on wireless is . . . be- cause they feel they have a path forward in their commercial dealings,” said Rebecca Arbogast, head of tech-policy research for investment firm Stifel Nicolaus. The companies’ proposal is meant to be a legislative blue- print for a law overseeing broad- band service providers such as AT&T, Comcast and Verizon. The companies said Congress should empower the FCC to be the traffic cop making sure consumers have equal access to Web content from


ROBERT GALBRAITH/REUTERS


What’s the buzz? Google and co-founder Sergey Brin are making waves with a partnership with Verizon. Internet.


their home computers, and met- ing out fines of up to $2 million on companies that block or give priority to some Web sites on the


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Other companies have argued for the same rules to apply on mobile networks. Skype, for example, has argued in meetings with the FCC that the agency should prevent carriers from blocking services such as its own from the iPad and from the Droid or other smartphones. The embattled FCC, which saw its authority over the Internet challenged by a federal court rul- ing earlier this year in a case in- volving Comcast, has been hop- ing for an industry-led proposal to be adopted by Congress.


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Some public interest groups said the Google-Verizon pact comes up short on the mobile side of the equation. “The companies’ plan puts wireless Internet service into a regulatory no-go zone and offers only toothless protection,” said Leslie Harris, president of the Center for Democracy and Tech- nology. A spokeswoman for FCC Chair-


man Julius Genachowski de- clined to comment on the deal. But Democratic Commissioner Michael J. Copps criticized the chairman’s negotiations, saying the agency should push forward on a proposal to re-regulate broadband providers.


“Some will claim this an- nouncement moves the discus- sion forward. That’s one of its many problems,” Copps said. “It is time to move a decision for- ward — a decision to reassert FCC authority over broadband telecommunications, to guaran- tee an open Internet now and for- ever, and to put the interests of consumers in front of the inter- ests of giant corporations.” Google’s statements stand in stark contrast to earlier ones made by the company’s exec- utives, who have expanded the company’s policy and lobbying shop in Washington in recent years to battle in favor of net neu- trality against telecommunica- tions and cable giants. But as new business opportunities emerged, Google’s perspective on the policy


seemed to change. In 2007, founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin lobbied then- FCC Chairman Kevin Martin to attach net neutrality rules to its auctions of wireless airwaves. Google officials have testified at FCC and congressional hearings that fair rules of the road need to be in place to keep Internet serv- ice providers from becoming “gatekeepers” of the Web, favor- ing their own business interests. Google in 2008 bid $4.6 billion for airwaves with open-access conditions to underscore its com- mitment to a future open mobile wireless industry. “We believe it’s important to put our money where our princi- ples are,” Schmidt said in a news release on Nov. 30, 2007. Then, in November, Google an- nounced a broad partnership with Verizon Wireless to jointly develop and market Android phones, a then-nascent software platform hoping to eat into the success of Apple’s iPhone. Since then, Schmidt has changed his tune, analysts said.


Schmidt and Seidenberg joint-


ly filed comments to the FCC in November on proposed net neu- trality regulation, saying they had reached “common ground” on some aspects of network man- agement. At that point, Google didn’t say that it endorsed un- regulated wireless network rules but that the partnership had opened its eyes to the unique technical constraints of mobile networks.


As their partnership deepened, so did their agreement on policy. In a March guest op-ed jointly penned for the Wall Street Jour- nal, Schmidt and Seidenberg said they agreed that the federal gov- ernment should abstain from overstretching rules in the fast- growing broadband industry. “While our two companies


don’t agree on every issue, we do agree generally as a matter of pol- icy that the framework of mini- mal government involvement should continue,” they said. kangc@washpost.com


China targets factories’ energy waste More than 2,000


‘backward’ facilities slated for closure


Associated Press


Ourapartment homesaren’tthe only things with personality.


beijing — China has ordered 2,087 steel and cement mills and other factories with poor energy efficiency to close as the country struggles to cut waste and im- prove its battered environment. The “backward” facilities pro- duce steel, coke, aluminum, pa- per and other materials through- out China and must close by late September, the Ministry of Indus- try and Information Technology announced Sunday.


Authorities said last week that


a five-year plan to improve en- ergy efficiency suffered a setback this year as China’s economic re-


bound and a construction boom boosted demand for steel, cement and other energy-intensive prod- ucts. The plan calls for a 20 percent


cut in China’s energy consump- tion per unit of economic output, or energy intensity, by the end of this year. The government said in March that it had cut energy in- tensity 14.4 percent by the end of 2009, but it said last week that energy intensity crept up 0.09 percent in the first half of 2010. China overtook the United


States last year as the world’s big- gest energy consumer, although with a larger population it still is well behind in consumption per person, according to the Interna- tional Energy Agency. China’s surging energy de- mands have alarmed leaders, who worry about dependence on imported oil and gas from vola- tile regions such as the Persian


Gulf and pollution damage to scarce water supplies and forests in a densely populated country. China is the world’s biggest steel producer and a major pro- ducer of other industrial materi- als. Its newest plants are equipped with the latest technol- ogy, but there are thousands of small, outdated facilities that au- thorities are reluctant to close for the sake of jobs and tax revenue. In the latest crackdown, the fa- cilities would lose their certifica- tion to emit pollutants at the end of September, utilities would cut off power supplies and banks would be ordered to stop dealing with them, the ministry said. Chinese industries use 20 to 100 percent more energy per unit of output than their U.S., Japa- nese and other counterparts, ac- cording to the World Bank. Chi- nese officials say energy use is 3.4 times the world average.


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