Now that Google has confirmed they will be bidding on the upcoming 700 Mhz spectrum that the FCC will be auctioning off next month, Google starting today can no longer talk about it. Seems that by FCC rules, participants are prohibited from discussing their strategy nor bidding plans with the hopes of keeping the auction process honest. It has been also been announced that Google will be going up against AT&T and others in the bidding war.

In addition, Google states on their blog:

 We already know that regardless of which bidders ultimately win the auction, consumers will be the real winners either way. This is because the eventual winner of a key portion of this spectrum will be required to give its customers the right to download any application they want on their mobile device, and the right to use any device they want on the network (assuming the C Block reserve price of $4.6 billion is met in the auction). That’s meaningful progress in our ongoing efforts to help transform the relatively closed wireless world to be more like the open realm of the Internet.

Regardless of how the auction unfolds, we think it’s important to put our money where our principles are. Consumers deserve more choices and more competition than they have in the wireless world today. And at a time when so many Americans don’t have access to the Internet, this auction provides an unprecedented opportunity to bring the riches of the Net to more people.

So it looks like for the next 6 weeks or so, we won’t be hearing nothing from any of the participants on how much they will be willing to bid for access to the new spectrum. One thing is for sure. Google is going to have to go up against some of the biggest guns in the wireless industry who are going to be very reluctant in giving up any ground to anyone who might pose a threat to their cash cow.

This should be a challenging moment for the Google folks in how much they are willing to risk in an untried venture.

Comments welcome.

Complete article is here.

Tags: google, fcc, auction, consumers, at&t, bid, amount,