WASHINGTON -(Dow Jones)- Google remains "very interested" in participating in the Federal Communications Commission's upcoming radio spectrum auction, according to the person at the company responsible for its wireless strategy.
Chris Sacca, who is head of special initiatives at the Mountainview, Calif., Internet company, said that despite not getting all the rules for the spectrum sale set in their favor, he remains interested in bidding.
"We are still very interested in the auction," Sacca said in a telephone interview this week.
He declined to elaborate, saying he didn't want to reveal any details of Google's strategy to potential rivals in the auction.
This week the FCC approved the rules for the auction of 62 megahertz of prized spectrum that will likely take place in January 2008.
This important step in the process went some way to determining how the sale will proceed, how large the blocks of spectrum will be and what obligations will be on those who ultimately end up buying the airwaves.
Crucially, commissioners voted to attach a series of so-called open access conditions to a large section of the spectrum, roughly one-third of that being sold.
Whoever controls this swathe of spectrum will be obliged to allow customers to attach any type of handset device to the wireless broadband network they subsequently construct. They would also have to allow users to access and use any type of application or software on that network.
Currently, wireless companies like Verizon Wireless or AT&T closely guard the types of devices they allow to be connected to their networks and the services customers can access on their cellular phones.
Google and others had been urging the FCC to adopt these conditions. They wanted the agency to go further and mandate that the licensee of the 22 megahertz section of the airwaves would have to operate at least some of it on a wholesale basis, but FCC Chairman Kevin Martin made it known he was reluctant to do this.
Two weeks ago, Google had pledged to commit at least $4.6 billion to the auction if the FCC did mandate wholesale access, the minimum amount the agency has estimated the chunk of spectrum is worth.
There had been some speculation Google was delivering an ultimatum to the FCC, but it would appear from Sacca's comments that the company is still mulling a bid.
The FCC set the ground for a bidding war between incumbents like these companies and a possible new entrant like Google. Other companies that are mentioned in connection with a possible bid include Yahoo, eBay and Intel.
"There will definitely be a new entrant in the auction, I don't know if they'll succeed. There's an opportunity for an incumbent to dominate the bidding and keep out a new entrant," Sacca said.
-By Corey Boles, Dow Jones Newswires; 202-862-6637; corey.boles@dowjones.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires"
Posted to the site on 2nd August 2007
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