Google Boosts Spending on Lobbying as FCC Tackles Internet Access Issue

Google Inc., which favors regulations on Internet providers, increased its spending on lobbying by 50 percent this year as the U.S. Federal Communications Commission took up the issue.

Google, based in Mountain View, California, spent $2.7 million on lobbying activities in the first six months of 2010, compared with $1.8 million during the same period in 2009.

The FCC is trying to develop a consensus on ways to allow the commission to regulate providers such as Verizon Communications Inc. and Comcast Corp. Google participated in talks led by congressional staff members last month.

The commission is seeking comments until Aug. 12 on adopting so-called net-neutrality rules that would prevent companies that provide Web access from favoring some sites over others or limiting subscribers’ traffic. The commission didn’t say when it might act.

Chairman Julius Genachowski has proposed that the agency use the same rules to regulate the Internet that it now uses to oversee telephone service. Verizon chief executive Ivan Seidenberg has said the idea would “cause uncertainly in the marketplace, create disincentives for investment,” and make the telecommunications industry less competitive.

Genachowski’s efforts followed a U.S. appeals court decision in April that the FCC didn’t have the authority to censure Comcast for blocking subscribers using peer-to-peer software often used to view videos.

To contact the reporter on this story: Jonathan D. Salant in Washington at jsalant@bloomberg.net.

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