Google Ready To Bid For Wireless

Nov 18

Lots of stories have swirled over the question of will they or won’t they bid in the FCC’s 700MHz wireless spectrum auction, but Google now looks like a lock to pony up some cash.

If Google bids for the 700MHz spectrum, they could do so with someone else putting up cash alongside the substantial pile of currency the search ad company has accumulated.

The Wall Street Journal summarized several steps Google has taken with regards to becoming a mobile business player. They left out a couple, namely Google’s acquisitions of Grand Central and portable graphics engine maker Skia earlier this year.

When Google does take that big step by grabbing some of the valuable 700MHz spectrum, they are as likely to do so with another deep-pocketed bidder alongside them as they are to go solo to the auction. That’s speculation by the Journal, citing the usual ‘people familiar with the matter’, but it makes sense for Google to arrive with a partner.

Serving the public with a GoogleNet wireless network should benefit the mobile-using public with less expensive service and broader availability. But serving the public involves customer service, and no one will ever confuse Eric Schmidt with Bruce Nordstrom in that discussion, as Google prefers to shunt its users to newsgroups rather than take questions by email, much less by phone, about its non-revenue generating products.

If Google chose to do so, it could provide world-class customer service. Financially it makes more sense for them to foist that dirty work onto someone else, which makes a partner scenario more likely once the bidding begins.

Submitted by David A. Utter

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