Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Google Plans to Bid 4.6 Billion on 700MHz Band

Posted by Zonk on from the dude-you've-been-googed dept.

NickCatal writes "The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Google plans to bid $4.6 Billion on the 700 MHz radio spectrum being auctioned off by the FCC. What is most interesting is that they are not planning on partnering with other companies to raise the cash, they are going to spend their own cash and possibly borrow some. With partners such as Sprint Nextel and T-Mobile in their 'Open Handset Alliance' is this a sign that they are willing to directly compete with the people they courted to join?"

8 of 148 comments (clear)

  1. f me thats a lot of money by superskippy · · Score: 2, Funny

    Do even Google have this kind of cash? It's a very big bet for a company to make- if this goes wrong they could sink the whole Google ship.

    1. Re:f me thats a lot of money by Nexus7 · · Score: 5, Funny

      > Do even Google have this kind of cash?

      I think Sergey is going to sell 100 shares.

    2. Re:f me thats a lot of money by encoderer · · Score: 2, Funny

      In summary...640k ought to be enough for everybody ;)

  2. Re:Shocking!!! by Colin+Smith · · Score: 4, Funny

    How is this a story again?

    Because if you bid $4,600,000,000.01 you get the license and not Google.

    --
    Deleted
  3. The Hot FM. by jackpot777 · · Score: 2, Funny

    Google. 700 FM. M. M. m. m. m. Can anyone confirm the info on this page: the 700MHz band is currently TV Channel 52. People watching this station in Oklahoma might get some interference. I know - switch to digital TV. But wouldn't it be funny if Fresh Prince of Bel-Air sounded like two farmers talking about tractors!

    --
    Shiny. Let's be bad guys...
  4. reading voice mail by nerdyalien · · Score: 3, Funny

    hope they not gonna read the Voice-Mails like they read our e-mails !!!

  5. Re:why? by Bogtha · · Score: 2, Funny

    Eventually someone will "win", but this will be a phyrric victory as the amount of money they will have to pay for a licence will be so high that they'll either go bankrupt, have to join up with some other bidders (who pulled out earlier) or not have enough monkey left to actually build the systems they wanted to implement.

    Yeah, I hate it when I go to build something and realise that I've run out of monkey.

    --
    Bogtha Bogtha Bogtha
  6. beam ads directly to brain by peter303 · · Score: 2, Funny

    Google engineers discovered a method to beam computer ads directly to ones visual and auditory cortext via radio waves. All they need now is the spectrum to implement it.