Google revealed last week that the Federal Trade Commission was intensely securitizing its recent $750 million acquisition of mobile ad network AdMob. Google said the FTC has made a second request for further information about the deal, and just today two consumer groups – Consumer Watchdog and the Center for Digital Democracy – have asked the FTC to block the deal on anti-trust grounds and possible privacy issues.

In a joint letter to the FTC, the two groups claim that AdMob’s acquisition by Google would severely decrease competition in the mobile advertising market, having a potentially negative impact on consumers, advertisers, and application developers. AdMob currently leads the mobile advertising niche, which is chock full of competitors. Speculation abounds on what the impact of a Google-backed AdMob would have on the rest of the competition, as well as the mobile advertising market in general.

The letter to the FTC also raises consumer privacy issues. The groups claim that both Google and AdMob have access to vast amounts of consumer behavior data, including their location. I think it is important to note that consumer groups typically make these sorts of complaints during antitrust reviews because it’s when these groups have the most leverage and the attention of regulators.

Google apparently has high ambitions for AdMob, which was one of the search giant’s largest acquisitions since it bought DoubleClick for $3.1 billion in 2008. The rapid proliferation of mobile advertising attracted Google to this niche, and with the acquisition of AdMob, I believe the company could indeed dominate a growing space. AdMob, which is approaching a $100 million business within the next several years, could be a particularly profitable channel, especially when the platform is plugged into AdWords and DoubleClick.

View a previously written post by Mouli Cohen about startups