I know, I know, the 700MHz wireless spectrum auction (Auction 73 PDF) that the FCC is officially beginning today isn't the sexiest topic in the world. Hell, it's not even a giant, yeti-like squirrel. But it is important. The open slot in the airwaves, caused by the move from analog television to digital, is pretty much the last hunk of the radio frequency spectrum in the country that we, as end users, will have access to for quite a while. Hit the jump for the basics of what you need to know.
Who's playing: Well, most of the big names in wireless and broadcasting--214 total--and even some you might not have thought of. The biggies, though, are AT&T, Verizon, Cox, and Google. Not everybody's game. Sprint, surprisingly, is sitting this one out. Don't expect to hear anything about the bids for the rest of the auction, though. Any leaks, and the company's out of the running.
What do they get: The auction is broken down into five blocks, each with pieces ranging from 698MHz to 806MHz. As the spectrum is returned by the television networks in 2009, the winners will begin using them, with some services likely coming in late 2009. With a chance to win a hunk of RF, the companies are bidding for the ability to become the next big wireless carrier, the opportunity to build a better wireless broadband network, or anything else they can think of.
What limitations do they have: Block C is by far the best. It gets the winner a whole host of regional licenses, but the winner must keep the airwaves open to other handsets that may want to operate on them. Thanks, Google, for pushing the FCC on that one, which in turn led to Verizon and AT&T promising to keep their networks open. Block D is the cheapest (see below), but it gets shared with first responders across the nation. Right now they're on different networks, so communication is harder. Thanks, 911, for hopefully working better.
How much money is involved: The government should get at least $10 billion out of this. The base prices for each block are as follows: Block A-$1.81 billion, Block B-$1.37 billion, Block C-$4.64 billion, Block D-$1.33 billion, and Block E-$904 million. Google is rumored to be planning on bidding Block C up to the base and then dropping out. If it wins a network, great. If not, it'll just run its open handsets on somebody else's. And it's fun to play with auctions.
How does this affect us: It's tough to say until the bids are all in. Depending on who wins and what they do with it, this could revolutionize mobile gadgets, letting us get much the same performance as a home broadband connection over our mobile devices. Unfortunately, there aren't enough rules to make it clear. The winners do have to create a sort of open network, but the companies will still have a fair amount of control. It'd be great to see the whole spectrum turned into a fully open, fast wireless broadband network. It'd also be nice if Santa Claus ponied up the cash to take it home.
Bidding wraps up on March 24, and the government gets a big burst of cash on April 11. Here's hoping Santa wins.
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