[From Craig
Summerville, SC] Verizon just beat out Google and all other bidders by plunking down $9.63 billion for a single big chunk of the 700 MHz spectrum, which becomes available to network providers early next year. They also won bids on smaller regional pieces of spectrum. Though the Federal Government says that any companies using the newly-available spectrum must make it an "open" network, this cannot be construed as anything but bad for consumers. With an established giant in the industry winning the bids for significant pieces of the available spectrum, and therefore the right to administer it largely as they see fit, the status quo is not likely to change. I was really hoping that Google or some other upstart (to the mobile network business, anyway) would shake-up the industry a bit, resulting in more competitive pricing (especially in data plans), fewer hidden contract "gotchas," and improved consumer satisfaction, owing to better customer support. Oh well.
