More 700 MHz Auction Analysis
January 28, 2008 – 2:48 pmTwo quick links (both on Wetmachine) here on the FCC’s 700 MHz spectrum auction.
First, Harold Feld has another great bit of analysis on why Google is bidding to win, though it’s not nearly as in-depth as his Great Google Prophecy last month.
Second, Greg Rose has an outstanding critique of the media’s premature 700 MHz doom-and-gloom.
The auction has barely started (just finished Round 7 as of this writing), and it will probably last well over 100 rounds, but the press is already decrying it as a failure because nobody’s come out and bid the reserve prices outright. The FCC’s bidding software prevents the kind of “jump bidding” that would even get us to a reserve price this soon, and none of the bidders wants to pay more than just enough to win. By historic standards, Rose argues, this auction is actually off to a very fast start.
If you want to track the auction, go to the FCC’s Spectrum Auction site and choose to see the results for Auction 73.