Ok, by this point we all know that Verizon and AT&T wont the lions's share of the 700 megahertz auction. AT&T actually dominated regional and local licenses while VZW scored the big fat national license.
What I think it funny is the number of people who say that Google lost the auction. Did it not occur to these people that Google never wanted to win? Well, at least not in the traditional sense.
Eric Auchard, from Reuters, seems to agree with what we (especially Andrew) have been saying for quite some time, which is that Google didn't want the license for themselves. There was all sorts of talk and rumors about Google rolling out its own wireless network but it doesn't make sense. Auchard points out that Google's current profit margins blow wireless carriers out of the water. Aside from jumping into that arena there's the fact that they would have to spend billions upon billion upon billions of dollars to not just build the network, which Verizon will now need to, but to basically start a new wireless carrier. Who in their right mind would really want to do that?
Google did exactly what they set out to do: they ensured that the C Block of the spectrum (the block won by VZW) would be an open access network. Google will now have much more capability to get its content, products and advertising to mobile customers.
Now, because Verizon is going to be tasked with building and maintaining the network and hardware manufacturers will build and sell the actual handsets...Google is going to gain an incredible foothold in the mobile browsing marketplace with an absolutely minimum investment.
Love Google or hate 'em, it was a brilliant (and ballsy) move.
Also, as we posted yesterday, Verizon Wireless' current Open Network initiative seems to almost be an open access test run on its current network. It gives them a great way to work out the kinks of how to handle open access on their own terms before the C Block network launches.
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