Google Sets Aside $4.6 billion for 700MHz Auction

Wow. It looks like Google remembered their motto "Don't be Evil". We reported a few weeks ago about Reed Hundt, the former FCC chairman who is calling for a ubiquitous high speed network which is not tied to any carrier. Hundt plans to bid for a slice of spectrum in the upcoming auction of the 700MHz band,

The draft proposal for the auction contains the "C block", a section set aside for bidding by smaller businesses like Hundt's, with a $4.6 billion reserve price. The current rules of the proposal, however, don't stop the auction winners from behaving exactly like the big boys and tying the networks up with proprietary services.

Now Google is stepping in, with a minimum of $4.6 billion which they will bid if the FCC adds these rules:

Open applications: Consumers should be able to download and utilize any software applications, content, or services they desire;

Open devices: Consumers should be able to utilize a handheld communications device with whatever wireless network they prefer;

Open services: Third parties (resellers) should be able to acquire wireless services from a 700 MHz licensee on a wholesale basis, based on reasonably nondiscriminatory commercial terms; and

Open networks: Third parties (like internet service providers) should be able to interconnect at any technically feasible point in a 700 MHz licensee's wireless network.

This doesn't mean that Google will run an open network. It means that the search giant is buying the assurance of an open network. That makes them Good Guys. It also means, if the trick works, that "it will [benefit] all American consumers, including greater availability, higher speeds, and lower prices."

Goodbye carrier lock-in, goodbye crippled handsets and hello country-wide 3G

Press release [Google]