Spectrum Auction Could Be A Game of Chicken

Ardvark writes "Google promised some time ago to bid at least the reserve price for the C block of 700Mhz spectrum if the FCC accepted its demand for an open access rule for devices using the band, which the FCC did over Verizon's objections. If the reserve price is not met the rule will be dropped and the block re-auctioned. It appears now that bidding has stalled just short of the reserve price. It's assumed that Google has no interest in becoming a cell phone company and with a recession looming the 700MHz spectrum now seems worth a whole lot less. If Google's strategy was to force the bidding above the reserve but still lose the auction, Verizon could be calling their bluff, threatening them to live up to their word and buy what to Google could be the equivalent of a $4.6 billion 'doohickey.'" Update: 01/31 16:01 GMT by Z : And just like that, the plot thickens: the C block has hit the reserve price during bidding.

Comments

Re:when the usa purchased alaska from russia

[smadasam]

what do you mean again?

Re:too bad

[hardburn]

Telecommuting generally means fast, stable Internet access, which many of those small communities don't have.

Re:too bad

[somersault]

It also requires certain types of job. You can't weld or make sandwiches via the internet.. well without specialised equipment. Even as an IT worker who is primarily doing coding right now, I can't telecommute because I still have to do the odd IT support job occasionally (which I could just talk people through or do via Remote Assistance I guess, though I still think asking if I can telecommute is going too far, and I'd probably end up really lazy and just work from my bed :p ).