Who else is just wet with anticpation of the 700Mhz spectrum auction this month?

[SKKY]

I can hardly wait! I'm dying to see what some of these companies have planned.


By Katherine Noyes
E-Commerce Times
12/19/07 1:47 PM PT

"Having such a large number of both expected and unexpected bidders just confirms how valuable and rare the spectrum is," Paul Gallant, a telecom policy analyst with Stanford Group, told the E-Commerce Times. "This certainly supports the view that the auction will be a free-for-all, where the minimum bids are quite likely to be met."

The Federal Communications Commission Latest News about Federal Communications Commission on Tuesday published the list of companies that have applied to participate in its auction of the 700 MHz (megahertz) band of wireless spectrum next month, and included among the long list of expected players were a few surprises.

Oil giant Chevron, for one, apparently plans to bid, as does billionaire entrepreneur and Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) Microsoft cofounder Paul Allen, who applied via Vulcan Spectrum. Also included were expected participants such as AT&T (NYSE: T), Qualcomm (Nasdaq: QCOM), Alltel (NYSE: AT), MetroPCS, Verizon (NYSE: VZ) and Google (Nasdaq: GOOG), applying under the name Google Airwaves.

A total of 266 companies have applied, but only 96 applications have been officially accepted -- the remaining 170 are still incomplete, the FCC says. Participants now have until Jan. 4 to complete their applications and submit their payments, thanks to an extension the FCC also made on Tuesday; previously, the deadline had been Dec. 28.

In accordance with the auction rules, no information is available as to which block of spectrum the companies plan to bid on or how much they will pay to the FCC.
Varying Prices

The 700 MHz band of wireless spectrum, previously used by TV stations, is widely desired because of its ability to travel long distances and go through walls. Now that TV broadcasters are moving to digital distribution, the FCC plans to auction off those bands starting Jan. 24.

Bidding will be conducted in stages via an electronic, anonymous process, and winners won't be announced until the auction is concluded. In addition to rescheduling the upfront payment deadline, the FCC has also moved its mock auction to Jan. 22.

Google and others lobbied earlier this year to ensure that whoever wins the much-sought-after "C Block" portion of the spectrum up for auction will be required to allow users to download any software application they want onto their mobile devices, and to use any mobile devices they would like on that wireless network. The C Block's reserve price at auction is US$4.6 billion.

Other financial deposits required from participants depend on which licenses they plan to bid on, so that the more spectrum blocks they are eligible to bid on, the more they must deposit.

In all, the FCC auction is expected to raise at least $15 billion, with some estimates as high as $30 billion.
'A Free-for-All'

"Having such a large number of both expected and unexpected bidders just confirms how valuable and rare the spectrum is," Paul Gallant, a telecom policy analyst with Stanford Group, told the E-Commerce Times. "This certainly supports the view that the auction will be a free-for-all, where the minimum bids are quite likely to be met."

Just what many of the participants -- smaller ones, in particular -- have in mind should they win spectrum remains to be seen.

"Many of these are very local, smaller players, and it's hard to imagine they're going for anything nationwide," Ira Brodsky, president of Datacomm Research Latest News about Datacomm Research, told the E-Commerce Times. "Ultimately, it may come down to AT&T, Verizon, Alltel and Google for the big chunks of spectrum."

Also notable about the list are the companies that are conspicuously absent, including Sprint (NYSE: S) Latest News about Sprint Nextel and a variety of WiMax players, Brodsky added. "Sprint, for example, has PCS spectrum, so if it could get into lower-frequency stuff, it would be much more competitive," he noted.
Strange Bedfellows

Paul Allen's involvement via Vulcan "is very interesting," Bill Hughes, a principal analyst for In-Stat, told the E-Commerce Times.

"On the one hand, Vulcan invests in a lot of interesting technologies, and the fact that they are participating in this is good news for the government and good news for potential customers because they are a viable competitor with a lot of money backing them up," Hughes explained. "Of course, they've flown in under the radar, so I have no idea what they plan to do."

Chevron's involvement, meanwhile, "strikes me as strange," Hughes added.

"They have a lot of private wireless networks, but there's a big difference between having your own wireless network for refining and distribution and franchising gas stations, and being a wireless service provider," he said. "They have the money required, but nothing leaps to mind as to why this would be a good fit for them."

[Redstone]

1. Wonks. And weenies, and nerds.

Redstone

[flvegan]

2. Webroot AntiSpyware 30-Day Free Trial. Click here.

I clicked, but it didn't work.

:shrug:

[SKKY]

5. Or did it?

Hmmmmm. :evilgrin: You should be ashamed of the things I've found in your c:/Documents and Settings/flvegan/My Pictures/ folder!!!!

[flvegan]

6. *snicker*

Good one!

[LeftyMom]

8. Stop looking at my boobs.

x(

[SKKY]

11. Those were your boobs?

I couldn't really tell because I only have a 21 inch monitor.

[MonkeyFunk]

3. I am

because just reading that put me into a stupor and I dribbled my soda all over myself.

[SKKY]

4. Stupor=Sleep?

Yea, sometimes this stuff can cure insomnia, huh? It's interesting none-the-less if you work in the IT/Communications field.

[SKKY]

7. Come on! I CANNOT be the only one in the Lounge who cares about this.

[Kutjara]

9. I'm surprised not to see Apple in the list.

There've been rumors flying around for months that they'd jump into the auction. Having all Apple products come with wireless cellular built in would go a long way toward realizing Steve Jobs' vision of ubiquitous wireless computing.

I'm not sure how to feel about Google winning some spectrum. Their "do no evil" motto is looking a little threadbare these days, so handing them another means of invading people's privacy isn't necessarily a good thing.

I've very sure how I feel about Paul Allen's involvement, but I don't think I should say in polite company.

[SKKY]

10. Well, the fact that Google has basically stated they want...

...the spectrum to be "open sourced", meaning any device can access it, use it, develop it, can't be a bad thing. Google seems to operate (Quite successfully if the truth be told) against a lot of the legacy trends in business. I hope this is just another of those. Since they've also developed and are pushing an open platform for mobile devices, I think they will be pushing the envelope with wired mobile devices pretty hard. Is that bad? I'm not sure, but I tend to give Google the benefit of the doubt. Paul Allen? I'm with you on that one.

[Kutjara]

12. The reasons you've stated are precisely why...

...I'm not sure how to feel. On the one hand, Google's open source approach and Android platform may be just what the mobile industry needs to break the tyranny of the carriers and give users what they want and need. On the other, I know a lot of Google services are going to be running on those handhelds, just because they are so cool and functional. All that user data will fall into Google's hot little hands. Of course, people would no doubt use Google services whether on not they're on a Google-owned network, so I suppose the point is moot.

[SKKY]

13. Well, one thing we're both missing in this...

..or haven't stated, is that Google, both through this spectrum bid and Android, are basically guaranteeing their Ad-generated revenue business model. I'm fine with that, I don't click on their ads anyway. But, Google has had an unbelievable opportunity to exploit the kind of data you've mentioned through Gmail, and haven't done so as best I can tell or have heard of. That's why I'm giving them a pass on this one.