News of today's 700MHz spectrum auction is all over the 'sphere. However, it's dwarfed by the Google offering of $4.5 billion (the minimum bid).
No, not the money. That's the minimum cost for sitting at the table. Google is demanding that the FCC agree to adopt four licensing "recommendations" (essentially open access rules), which include (at the 30,000-foot view):
- Open applications for users
- Open devices that work with any netowrk provider
- Open services allowing for third-party resale of wireless services
- Open networks that connect ISPs to the 700MHz network.
My opinion (not that of my employer; I haven't asked the main brains what they think): it'd be very, very cool to have all this openness when selecting a phone, a network and a services package.
However, this openness turns the winning provider into little more than a 'dumb pipe' for the transfer of data from any source (including the Internet), dramatically different that the 'walled gardens' that exist today. While a nice idea, I don't see the wireless providers going for this, as they run the risk of rapidly devolving into commodity services with ultra-slim margins. Politics will come into play, methinks.
CNET: "Google commits $4.6 billion to wireless-spectrum auction"