Source: snapvoip.blogspot.com

NEW YORK, April 3, 2008 /PRNewswire/ — Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ) will webcast a presentation to analysts and investors on the results of the Federal Communications Commission’s 700 megahertz spectrum auction at 8 a.m. Eastern time on Friday, April 4.

Verizon Chairman and CEO Ivan Seidenberg, Verizon Wireless CEO Lowell McAdam and Verizon CFO Doreen Toben will discuss the company’s auction objectives and plans for use of the spectrum. The executives will also review wireless growth opportunities based on Verizon’s open development initiative and the company’s plans to deploy LTE (Long Term Evolution) technology to provide 4G (fourth generation) wireless services.

The presentation can be accessed on Verizon’s Investor Relations Web site, www.verizon.com/investor. Access instructions and presentation materials will be available on the site prior to the start of the webcast.

Source: snapvoip.blogspot.com

FCC Chairman over a conference call mentioned that 700MHz Spectrum with open access bids totaling 19.6 Billion Dollars, higher than all all the auctions that it held in last 15 years. Chairman Kevin Martin said the 700MHz auction was the most successful auction the agency has ever conducted, raising more money than all previous auctions put together, excluding the Advanced Wireless Services auction in 2006.
Main focus in this auction was the clause Open Access on the C Block. The open-access requirement is significant because today, U.S. wireless operators like Verizon(most restrictive) have tight control over which devices can be used on their networks and which applications can be used on those handsets. Google and other companies, such as Skype, have complained that this is too restrictive. It is also the reason that Google entered into bidding. The C block have garnered a 4.75 Billion bid (Google said it will bid up to 4.6Billion) but But the D block, set aside to build a nationwide public-safety network, did not meet its reserve price, it only received 472 million offer and never reached the 1.3 Billion Price.
FCC Plans to hold another auction for the D block in the near future.
The identities of the auction bidders are still a secret. To prevent anti-competitive behavior, the FCC kept the bidding anonymous. Martin said the names of the auction winners would not be revealed until the commission voted on separating the D block from the rest of the auction. Since the FCC won’t be able to get this item on its agenda for at least three weeks, the names of the winners won’t likely be revealed until April.
Read a complete report at News.com

Source: snapvoip.blogspot.com

Spectrum auction is almost over and according to an article on Forbes, Google might be out of the wireless tangle, after having achieved what it wanted, an "Open" Broadband network.
The bids are kept under seal but the analysts who knows the market and the players have already marked out the winners and players and who ever trail the auctions.
On Google’s side of the auction involvement was viewed as ;
"Analysts speculated that Google likely bid $4.6 billion for the C block. Under FCC rules, a $4.6 billion bid would ensure the creation of a broadband network "open" to any devices or application. Industry watchers speculated that Google, which lobbied the FCC to adopt open access rules for the auction, was participating in the auction out of a sense of duty rather than a desire to win."
Whatever the case, we really need to thank Google for the "Open" wireless spectrum for it’s work on the issue. Verizon took FCC to court over the same issue, trying to prevent an "Open" network.
So all these big players did not dance towards the "open" spectrum but more like dragged towards it.
There are two blocks that still have not come near the target bids are D and E blocks. The FCC wants the D block to be used as a combined commercial and public safety communications network. Experts say the challenges of building out such a network has scared bidders away. If the $1.3 billion reserve price isn’t met, it will probably be auctioned again. But I think they are not interested because there is no money in the public work!
E block is a one way only network according the article (?) and wonders if anyone will be interested in bidding on it!.
In any case I am glad that FCC chose the "open" to be a valuable part in these last bit of unused spectrum.

Source: snapvoip.blogspot.com

snapvoip
Companies qualified to join the 700 MHz airwaves auction include major carriers AT&T Inc and Verizon Wireless, as well as possible new competitors like Internet company Google Inc, EchoStar Communications Corp and Cablevision Systems Corp. They all have been busy since the auction opened but not busy enough to reach the FCC’s goal, a 10 Billion Dollar sale.
Among all these companies, the collective bids for all the blocks now stand at 3.7 Billion.
Continue reading at Reuters news article..

Source: snapvoip.blogspot.com

Although pundits say that Google is unlike to get a piece of bandwidth in the 700 MHz Spectrum left free by TV Broadcasters moving to HD/Digital Signals, that Google should be happy that it set the rules for the auction. I will believe pundits once I see the results.
WASHINGTON — The auction for rights to a highly valuable swath of the nation’s airwaves will begin Thursday and is expected to include multi billion-dollar bids from the nation’s two biggest wireless phone companies, Verizon and AT&T, as well as Google.
NY Times

Source: voipcentral.org

It is a major victory of VoIP industry. The Federal Communication Commission (FCC) has decided to open up the 700 MHz spectrum for the non-carriers. It means that the companies like Google and Skype can now extend their applications (downloadable) over the operators network.

After much debates for the last several months, the Commission has finally voted to adopt auction and service rules for the 700 MHz spectrum. With this decision, the consumers will now look forward to enjoy the right to attach devices and download applications of their choice to a portion of this spectrum.

Andy has rightly pointed out,

Given how 2.0 type communications could proliferate in the newly awarded spectrum this opens up all kinds of doors for everyone from applications developer, handset designers and manufacturers, switching folks, carriers and more.

Until now, Skype has pitched for Carterfone rules of 1968 to control the activities of mobile operators who restrict subscribers freedom. In light of this, the recent FCC decision has provided Skype a reason to feel good.

Image:

Source: snapvoip.blogspot.com

That’s the goal of Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin, who will propose sweeping new rules for wireless airwaves the government is auctioning early next year. The 700 MHz spectrum, being vacated by TV stations as they go digital, is coveted for its ability to penetrate walls and other obstacles.

Under Martin’s proposal, to be circulated in the agency as early as Tuesday, mobile services in these airwaves would have to allow consumer choice.

"Whoever wins this spectrum has to provide … truly open broadband network — one that will open the door to a lot of innovative services for consumers," Martin said in an interview Monday.

What this would mean in practice: "You can use any wireless device and download any mobile broadband application, with no restrictions," Martin explained. The only exceptions would be software that is illegal or could harm a network.

The proposed rules would apply only to the spectrum being auctioned, not the rest of the wireless business, which still makes most of its revenue from voice calls. But Martin’s proposal, if adopted by the FCC, could reverberate through a U.S. wireless industry that has tightly controlled access to devices and services. The Apple iPhone is a prime example: Like most devices sold in the USA, the iPhone is, in industry parlance, "locked." It allows only features and applications that Apple (AAPL) and AT&T (T) provide and works only with an AT&T contract.