Why Google isn't playing to win the wireless auction

WHY GOOGLE ISN'T PLAYING TO WIN WIRELESS AUCTION
[SOURCE: Techland, AUTHOR: Yi-Wyn Yen]
[Commentary] Google may play the part of a serious bidder, but the company isn't necessarily looking to become the next national wireless provider, according to analysts and telecom experts. The U.S. consumer mobile market is already saturated, they say, and Google’s inexperience combined with the complexity of building and managing a new wireless network makes winning the Federal Communications Commission’s Jan. 24 700 MHz auction too costly a proposition. The consensus on the Street is that Google is unlikely to bid to win. So why would Google even go through the motions of bidding? Here’s why: In July, Google persuaded the FCC to require the winner of the 700 MHz C-block auction to open its airwaves to any device and application. If no company notifies the FCC of an intent to bid by the Dec. 3 deadline, the auction will be reset without Google’s rules and the eventual winner of the highly-coveted spectrum could run a closed network. And the search giant does want to change the rules of the game in the wireless market. Google would like to see mobile Internet rival web access on PCs and laptops. The more consumers move their PC-based search habits onto cell phones, the bigger the opportunity the company has to benefit from mobile advertising. And thus Google’s move to create the Open Handset Alliance and the Android mobile platform for software services. Certainly, it won't need to build out tens of thousands of cell towers across the nation to make that happen.
http://techland.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2007/11/29/why-google-isnt-playing...

* Google ready to bid on mobile airwaves: report
http://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSN2925934120071130

-- See Also --

* Verizon Wireless' Neutrality 'Offer' is Neutered
[SOURCE: Network Computing, AUTHOR: Frank Bulk]
[Commentary] Verizon Wireless wants to curry consumer favor, and what it's offering with its 'Any Apps, Any Device' is really no gift at all. It's not offering anything that it isn't doing today or that's accessible to consumers.
http://www.networkcomputing.com/article/printFullArticle.jhtml;jsessioni...