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Google Announces Plan To Bid On 700MHz Auction

Remember the back and forth between Google, Verizon and the FCC to put forth open access provisions on the upcoming 700MHz wireless spectrum auction? We know that eventually the FCC added a requirement at the behest of Google that any winner of the very sought after wireless communication band, which penetrates buildings much better than current wireless bands available to mobile carriers, will be required to allow any legal handset and any legal application to use the spectrum (much to the chagrin of closed mobile phone providers.)

Until now; however, Google had not announced any real plans to bid on the 700Mhz auction, leading many people to speculate if Google would actually bid on the spectrum, and what influence it would have on Android.

Well, get your Google love ready, because Google has told Ars Technica that they are preparing to bid on the 700Mhz auction!

In a statement, a Google spokesperson told Ars, "Our goal is to make sure that American consumers have more choices in an open and competitive wireless world. FCC rules require us to reveal our plans by December 3, and we fully intend to do so. In the meantime, we are making all the necessary preparations to become an applicant to bid in the auction."

I have to agree with many of my fellow technology writers and predict that Google will not become a mobile carrier if they win the auction. It is antithetical to Google's business strategy of championing open access in order to get their advertising and search technology to as many devices as possible (as I pointed out previously in my Symbian vs. Google article).

So what is Google planning by bidding on the 700Mhz spectrum? By winning, Google can guarantee the spectrum will be as open as they want. They will own the wireless band and sell access to it at low, wholesale costs (a provision the FCC rejected as a condition of the auction) to established wireless providers, who will take care of all the ugly business of actually running a carrier, and Google gets a guaranteed open network to deploy its software and bring its advertising to more eyeballs. More eyeballs = more money = win for Google.

Smart plan, if you ask me, and Google is no fool.