rfc1394's Journal: FCC Requests Comments on New Spectrum Auction

In an article on Computerworld, it's noted the FCC is requesting comments on its 700MHZ spectrum auction proposed for January 16, 2008, "which is expected to yield more than $10 billion." If you have some spare cash lying around, the minimum bid for the largest chunk, 22MHZ of spectrum which is open across the entire country, is a mere $4.6 billion, the exact amount Google had said it would be willing to offer for a minimum bid if the conditions it wanted on the auction were met. While most of the conditions of the auction are what it asked for, it's not clear if Google will actually bid - bidding will be secret during each round to "improve competition" - and even if it does, it will probably lease spectrum to actual operators who will do the build-out, as comments from the company most likely indicate it's interested more in some form of bulk access.