Google Determied to Tap the Wireless Market

Google plans to enter the spectrum of wireless phone service. The company announced plans to bid on highly coveted airwaves. Google wants to make sure wireless networks are accessible to all kinds of handheld devices. By building a more accessible platform, Google anticipates more Internet use and a lot more money.

Google To Bid For Wireless Spectrum
By: Michael Liedtke
Associated Press
Dec. 1, 2007

Google Inc. confirmed its plans to bid for a prized piece of the airwaves in an upcoming government auction, further underscoring the Internet search leader's determination to shake up the wireless market and plumb more profits from mobile phones.
Friday's announcement wasn't a bombshell because the Mountain View-based company previously signaled it might participate in the Federal Communications Commission auction scheduled to begin Jan. 24.
In a mild surprise, Google will enter the competition without a partner more experienced in the wireless industry.
Going it alone will be expensive and potentially risky, even for a company as rich and technologically adept as Google, which ended September with about $13 billion in cash....
The airwaves up for grabs are widely coveted because the frequencies travel long distances and easily penetrate walls — advantages that will require fewer radio towers while still promising better connections than other wireless networks. The spectrum is being freed up as part of the switch to digital television in February 2009.
Whoever wins the rights to the spectrum being eyed by Google must accommodate all types of phones and mobile software. Google lobbied the FCC to adopt the "open access" condition, arguing consumers shouldn't be restrained by current market restrictions that limit the kinds of handsets that work on wireless networks.
"We believe it's important to put our money where our principles are," Google Chairman Eric Schmidt said. "Consumers deserve more competition and innovation than they have in today's wireless world."
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