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700 MHz Spectrum - Google: Loser or Winner?

February 3, 2010 by admin  
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goo spectrum 700 MHz Spectrum Google: Loser or Winner? on revealed for the first time that it had been among the for the federal 700- spectrum auction, which provides access to the Internet via mobile devices. Didnt we already know?

But the -Calif.-based company now says that was all part of the .

had said last July that it would guarantee a minimum $4.6 billion bid if the would grant four license conditions the company sought for the spectrum. The granted just two, giving to outside applications and devices, but proceeded with a bid.

“’s heading into the auction was to make sure that bidding on the so-called ‘’ reached the $4.6 billion reserve price that would trigger the important ‘’ and ‘open handsets’ license conditions,” wrote two of the company’s lawyers on the corporate blog. “We were also prepared to gain the nationwide licenses at a price somewhat higher than the reserve price; in fact, for many days during the early course of the auction, we were the high bidder. But it was clear, then and now, that Verizon Wireless ultimately was motivated to bid higher (and had far more to gain the licenses).”

Most observers had already assumed that had, in fact, bid, and some had even worried that the company would win the auction, which could have added risk to the company’s .

The company’s lawyers said that the auction “doesn’t mark the end of our efforts toward greater wireless choice and innovation.”

“We will weigh in at the as it sets for the , and determines how to move forward with a re-auction,” they wrote on the blog.

The plans to use the for public .

radio tower 700 MHz Spectrum Google: Loser or Winner?
It appears everything went as planned for Google. It didn’t have to cough up any money in the 700 but it ensured the open-access provisions (at least most of them) that it fought for at the . But with the same faces, namely Verizon and AT&T, emerging as winners in the auction, the auction isn’t going to change the face of the wireless telecom industry as industry pundits had hoped.
As exciting as it would have been to see a newcomer to the wireless landscape, incumbents such as Verizon have the wherewithal to spend billions on licenses and billions more to build out network infrastructure. That’s their core business. And with the 700 MHz band the last of the so-called beach-front property, operators were prepared to drive the price up to a hefty level, especially given the fact that new 4G networks need a nice chunk of extra spectrum, about 20 , to deliver the broadband data speeds that are advertised.

Verizon Wireless was the big winner for the 700 MHz auction after winning the Upper of spectrum, which is laden with provisions. did not win any licenses. Satellite television company EchoStar subsidiary Frontier won a significant amount of licenses in the E Block–enough to give the company a nationwide footprint. Verizon Wireless not only won the coveted , but also most of the A Block and 77 licenses in the B Block, which contained the smallest licenses in the auction. For its part, AT&T managed to scoop up 227 of the smaller slices of spectrum.

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