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Filed under: Wireless

digg_url = ‘http://digg.com/tech_news/700MHz_C_block_hits_reserve_price_open_access_is_here_2′;There was a brief, tense pause in the bidding this morning, but some anonymous giant telecom company (Google, perhaps?) has just pushed the price of the 700MHz C-block over the FCC’s reserve price of $4.6B — and the rest of us straight into the promised land of open access. Yep, January 31, 2008, Round 17 will be the day to remember — to think it was all a dream, we used to read Free Spectrum magazine.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

 

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Source: Nilay Patel

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Filed under: Wireless

Here’s some up to date 700MHz bidding news for you. Currently, bids on the hotly contested “C” block have risen to almost $4.3 billion, or just a few dollars away from the FCC’s reserve price of $4.6 billion. That number puts us perilously close to triggering the “open-access rule” which pretty much everyone (Google especially) has been clamoring for (or fighting). The total bids on the spectrum are also hovering near the $10 billion mark, which has been the FCC’s goal all along, ostensibly demonstrating that everything is going according to plan. There is one small snag, with the “D” block — the public safety / first responder band — not seeing the kind of action the agency had hoped for, nabbing only $472 million in bids, a far cry from the minimum requirement of $1.6 billion. Of course, bidding has six weeks to go, so no one seems to be sweating just yet, though “lawmakers” are swearing they’ll take “quick action” if the numbers don’t rise.

[Thanks, Aaron]

Read — 700Mhz Auction Approaches $10 Billion
Read — House Panel Bird-Dogging 700MHz Auction

 

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Source: Joshua Topolsky

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Filed under: Wireless

We’re sure you’ve heard most of the notables by now — such as Google (applying as Google Airwaves Inc.), Verizon, Qualcomm, Cox, Frontline, AT&T, EchoStar and Paul Allen — but there are a total of 1,099 various licenses available for the 62 megahertz up for grabs, and a whole lot of regional carriers are in the mix. FCC finally has a full list for your perusal, and the final tally reached 266, though a fair number of those might not make it to the actual auction. Apparently two thirds of applications were deemed “incomplete,” meaning they have until January 4th to revise their application and put in their upfront payment. Notables on the list of incompletes include AT&T, Cox and Qualcomm. The full list of applicants is after the break.Continue reading FCC’s full list of 700MHz auction applicants

 

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Source: Paul Miller

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Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless

We know, the 700MHz soap opera is wearing a bit on us too, but just in case you were worried that the latest FCC shakeups would deter Google from coughing up $4.6+ billion when the time was right, fret not. Reportedly, Chief Executive Eric Schmidt “told a conference of regulatory and industry leaders in Aspen that his company would ‘probably’ move ahead with plans to bid for wireless spectrum freed up once broadcast television networks switch to digital from analog in 2009.” When asked by T-Mobile USA’s government relations chief Thomas Sugrue “whether Google planned to take part in the auctions for wireless broadband networks,” the exec simply stated that placing a bid or two would likely be “the way to answer that.” So, there you have it — until next episode…

 

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Source: Darren Murph

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Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless

Just in case you had any suspicion that Google may retract its interest in bidding for the 700MHz spectrum after the rules neglected to afford the winner wholesaling rights, Chris Sacca has intervened to clear things up. According to the search giant’s head of special initiatives, the firm is “still very interested in the auction” despite not getting all of the rules for the spectrum sale set in its favor. Of course, the FCC did choose to approve the whole “open access” bit, and while Mr. Sacca declined to elaborate in order to keep details of Google’s strategy on the DL, it seems safe to say that it will indeed be busting out the checkbook come auction time.

[Image courtesy of OpenBusiness]

 

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Source: Darren Murph

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