Amp’d joins the deadpool. Google makes a bid for wireless spectrum.
July 23, 2007 – 12:08 pmI posted about the Amp’d debacle last week.
Well, I wasn’t surprised to find out this weekend that Amp’d is turning off service on Tuesday (7.24). Sounds like there will be a mad dash to the Verizon store for those customers. Nothing like a 3 day notice to get things moving.
Also on the news front, Google has set aside $4.6 billion for wireless spectrum bid. Google is bidding against Verizon & AT&T. via mocoNews and New York Times.
What does this mean to you?
Google would like to open it up to allow any device to access the network, which is a stipulation to their bid. That would mean that you could pick the device you want first, and the network second, similar to many other countries.
Can you imagine an iPhone on the new Google spectrum?
I doubt that Google will win, because the telecoms have a lot at stake, but I’m excited to see Google jump into this space. Even if Google does win, there are several legal and technical issues to be hammered out, but that hasn’t stopped Google before. Google has a market cap of 160 billion. Verizon has a market cap of 125 billion. Should the telecoms take Google seriously?
According to the New York Times, in a statement on Thursday, Jim Cicconi, AT&T’s senior executive vice president for external and legislative affairs, said Google’s proposal was an “interesting and creative balance” that would not change the business models of AT&T and others. He said Google would now have to “put up or shut up.”
“If they are serious, they will be able to bid and test their model in the marketplace against the business models of companies already enjoying widespread consumer acceptance,” he said.
Does Cicconi really want to get on Google’s bad side or what?
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