Letia Renee Armstead,Kyle Wilson Hermann,Apiwan Pinsaikeow
With the advent of new capabilities of mobile devices, tv and the internet, companies are now fighting to get an edge over a competing company. One way these companies do this is by purchasing pieces of the electromagnetic spectrum in order to deliver better service to their customers. In the past few years, we can see this happening with many companies who already have their foot in the door and with companies who want to expand to different facets of the telecommunication world. In 2007, in an effort to push their Android OS and other improvements to their service, Google entered the Spectrum Auction in hopes to buy some high frequency spectrum to help them get their feet off of the ground. The specific piece of spectrum they were going for was 700mhz. This specific frequency was made more available after Television network converted to digital. [1]
As a condition of purchasing this spectrum, the F.C.C required that anyone who won the spectrum must allow consumers to use devices that are compatible with the network even if they are not bought from the mobile company and to also not to restrict users from using third party programs on their device. [2] AT&T and Verizon were also expected to participate as they were also trying to make an effort to improve their network and make service more flexible for the consumers.
In 2008 we got an inside glimpse of the Spectrum Auction and exactly how much money people were dropping to get a piece of Block C and D spectrum that would allow them to setup broadband networks. According to an article on arstechnica, 214 biddings competed for the precious 700mhz spectrum with bids soaring to $2.79 billion dollars! Seemingly, equally precious Block C spectrum was going for about $4.638 billion with Block D trailing behind at just $1.33 billion. [3] As stated above in the piece about google, this is the same spectrum that the F.C.C was only letting go under certain conditions. Consumers must be allowed to use their devices as they want.
References
edit- ^ Stone, Brad. "Google to Join Spectrum Auction", The New York Times, December 1, 2007, accessed March 14, 2011.
- ^ Stone, Brad. "Google to Join Spectrum Auction", The New York Times, December 1, 2007, accessed March 14, 2011.
- ^ Bangman, Eric. "Spectrum auction starts, draws over $2.7 billion in first-day bids", arstechnica, January 25, 2008 , accessed March 14, 2011.