As much speculation as there has been about a possible Google bid for 700 MHz spectrum, there now are new reasons to think Google is deadly serious, and that provide new strategic reasons to win the auction, not just to bid for tactical reasons.
A U.N. telecom meeting has decided to give mobile service providers access to similar bandwidth currently reserved for terrestrial television broadcasts, making mobile Internet access a major new wireless feature globally by 2015.
Google simply would be early in the new business if it acquires and then operates a mobile Internet service. Significantly, global data roaming will be much easier as the new rules on spectrum use will rely heavily on common frequencies in diverse regions, meaning handsets will be able to interoperate. That promises higher sales volumes and hence lower costs, on both the infrastructure and handset fronts.
Consumers in the United States are to gain access to at least some of the spectrum in question by 2009, but it will take an additional six years before those in Europe, Africa, China, Russia and much of the Middle East will have the same access.
A U.S. government auction of key 700 MHz spectrum 698 megahertz to 806 megahertz range)is scheduled for February.
The same frequencies will be available for mobile services throughout the Americas, India, Japan, Korea and a number of other Asian countries, while the rest of the world will initially use only the 790 megahertz to 862 megahertz range.
Unlike many recent spectrum auctions, which essentially resulted in more bandwidth to support legacy services, most observers think the new spectrum largely will be used for IP-based Web applications and data.
Despite the challenges and risks, Google might want to move more aggressively given the new global implications.
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