- Thursday, 26 November 2009
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You can get much farther with a kind word and a gun than you can with a kind word alone - Al Capone
Google will bid Monday for 700 MHz Spectrum
IT IS OFFICIAL. Google has big money in its bank account. It will file an application to participate in the 700MHz auction on Monday, the company said in a news release. Google's application will not include any partners.
"We believe it's important to put our money where our principles are," Eric Schmidt, Google's chairman and CEO, said in a statement. "Consumers deserve more competition and innovation than they have in today's wireless world. No matter which bidder ultimately prevails, the real winners of this auction are American consumers who likely will see more choices than ever before in how they access the Internet."
We predicted Eric Schmidt's decision a while back. The speculation by pundits in the know is that Google will have to spend at least $4.6 billion of depreceated US Greenbacks for the 700MHz “C” block.
Consumers will be the winners in the auction, Chris Sacca, Google's head of special initiatives, wrote on the company's public policy bog.
"This is because the eventual winner of a key portion of this spectrum will be required to give its customers the right to download any application they want on their mobile device, and the right to use any device they want on the network," Sacca said. "That's meaningful progress in our ongoing efforts to help transform the relatively closed wireless world to be more like the open realm of the Internet."
What can he mean?
He revealed an FCC map of the available spectrum, which runs from 698-806MHz. The yellow sections have already been auctioned off. The gray sections are reserved for the nationwide public safety broadband network that PSST and vendor friends will build out over the next five to ten years. The remaining white sections A,B,C,D, and E blocks are what will be offered at auction early next year.
The big deals are the "C" and "D" blocks. The “C” block covers two 11MHz chunks of spectrum that can be bid on together, making 22MHz available for national commercial use. This is a prime spectrum that Verizon and others would like to get their hands on.
Maybe the USA will finally see SIMM card slots in their handsets like in Asia and Europe. Possibly running Google's Android open source mobile operating system.
Free Press, a media reform group, cheered Google's decision to bid. Combined with Verizon Wireless' announcement this week that it would open its network to outside devices and applications, the Google move will give more choices to consumers, said Ben Scott, Free Press' public policy director. µ
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Do you think they will be bidding against Sovereign Wealth Funds?
The US already has SIMM cards in our handsets. All carriers.

I believe that the US had it before you Limey gits. [I am no Limey git. I am a Scotsman. Oh, and an American wrote that story. Ed.]
I'm sure my Sinclair beastie wasn't that fast!

Ho Ho Ho! :-p
I consider spectrum auctions blatant money grabs by governments. 

Very short sighted, too. As we've seen in most of Europe and other countries such as Australia, all it does it just drives up the cost of communications and despite the false talk about everybody benefitting from the competition, the customers are the victims. 

The telcos don't have a choice, they have to have the spectrum so it's a desperate race to the bottom for them. 

Then, they have to charge accordingly. Expensive communications are not simply about big mobile/cell phone bills for parents of chatty teenagers it also raises costs for businesses which in turn, you guessed, have to build these extra costs in their prices.

Customer pays. 

This is not the only model, I think Sweden had a more sensible model for spectrum sale but I don't claim to be an expert on this.
In the case described in the article, Google with it's deep corporate pocket and strong desire to expand, may just drive up communications costs for everybody. 

I hope I'm wrong.
"Maybe the USA will finally see SIMM card slots in their handsets like in Asia and Europe."

The USA has already got those and has had them for quite a few years now. Do your research, chaps.
I have used ATT for years, and I have a SIM card in my phone. Am I not in the USA? [Dunno. We don't log IP addresses here. Are you? Ed.]
All GSM compatible handsets and cellular modems use SIM cards. Many of the European & Asian handsets are sold in US,

Currently there are 4 bands in use for GSM. 850, 900, 1800, 1900. 900/1800 is most common outside US, 850/1900 is mostly used in North America.

US handsets that have been "activated" by a US carrier can usually be unlocked for use in Asia and Europe with SIM cards purchased from local shops. I used a US T-Mobile handset with SIMs from Globe Telecom & Smart Communications in Philippines. I had a quad-band phone so no network frequency problems.

If the 700 band is used to support a GSM network then we will need 5 band capability to give the freedom to roam that is currently guaranteed by quad band phones. We will also need all new handsets since there are currently no GSM handsets using 700mhz
The same thing is happening in Canada (spectrum up for grabs). I assume that Google has noticed and is going to grab the same chunk in Canada so that we can stay relatively integrated (electronically, not electorially).
Our newly freed spectrum will be under the benign guidance of Brian Mulroney, our most beloved ex-prime minister!
Other carriers in the U.S. use SIMM cards, but to my knowledge, Verizon does not. This may be what they meant in the article.
Selling bits of the electromagnetic spectrum? I am so proud to be part of this pathetic species. Only humans would develop such a system to achieve ownership of something so ethereal. I have to get back to my lawsuit against God for causing some flood damage.
In the CDMA world, where Verizon Wireless and Sprint live for now, SIM card are called RUIM cards. Not sure what their business reason is for not included this option in all their handsets. They're available in China and Brazil on other CDMA networks.
Jeffy and Alex, you are both wrong. We will be 2 years behind the US in auctioning off this spectrum because while US TV broadcasters can no longer use this band to broadcast conventional TV starting in 2009, we will still have good old analog (G-d knows why) using this band till 2011. Plus currently Google could not bid on Spectrum in Canada as it is a foreign company. Unfortunately with the upcoming auction for advance wireless spectrum (presumably more 3G and future 4G+ spectrum, I'm not sure on the frequencies) our Conservative Government (who I normally agree with) made the idiotic decision to set aside spectrum for new entrants and mandate that new entrants can piggy back on the incumbents networks for up to 10 years before moving to their own networks, all at what I am guessing is extremely cheap rates. Oh and they are regional licenses rather than national ones which makes more sense. Too bad the Inq, which I love, doesn't cover Canada like it does Eastern Europe or you guys would have known this. 
Oh and Magee why have my comments never been posted?