Spectrum Auction Could Be A Game of Chicken

Ardvark writes "Google promised some time ago to bid at least the reserve price for the C block of 700Mhz spectrum if the FCC accepted its demand for an open access rule for devices using the band, which the FCC did over Verizon's objections. If the reserve price is not met the rule will be dropped and the block re-auctioned. It appears now that bidding has stalled just short of the reserve price. It's assumed that Google has no interest in becoming a cell phone company and with a recession looming the 700MHz spectrum now seems worth a whole lot less. If Google's strategy was to force the bidding above the reserve but still lose the auction, Verizon could be calling their bluff, threatening them to live up to their word and buy what to Google could be the equivalent of a $4.6 billion 'doohickey.'" Update: 01/31 16:01 GMT by Z : And just like that, the plot thickens: the C block has hit the reserve price during bidding.

Check out the FCC auction yourself!

[acherrington]

First, go here https://auctionsignon.fcc.gov/signon/index.htm [fcc.gov] Then put in Auction number 73 under public access... then click go. According to this, they are at a total of $11.5 billion now for the total... next round starts in ten minutes.

Bidding on Round 17 has closed..

[nimr0d]

And no new bids. Watch it in REAL TIME: https://auctionbidding.fcc.gov/auction/results/results.htm [fcc.gov]

Re:too bad

[Anonymous Coward]

Housing is still affordable....just not where the jobs are.

Fixed a typo for you.

Telecommuting just isn't all it's cracked up to be.

Re:Check out the FCC auction yourself!

[HogGeek]

New bid, just went to $4,713,823,000...

Open Access is good to go!

Re:Clever

[neurovish]

Google is sitting on about 5 billion in cash as of last September, while Verizon has about 700 Million.
Google: http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bs?s=GOOG [yahoo.com]
Verizon: http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bs?s=VZ [yahoo.com]

From a cash perspective, google looks in much better condition to go on a $4.6B shopping spree.

Re:too bad

[homey of my owney]

CNBC is now reporting the reserve has been met.

Here's the link to the auction status

[RaigetheFury]

Here's the link for status
http://wireless.fcc.gov/auctions/default.htm?job=auction_summary&id=73 [fcc.gov]

Under Results click: View Auction Results (buttheads are using javascript for linking so no direct linking possible).

Please note it wants you to run some java. I clicked no and everything runs fine.

As of 11 AM EST this story is false

[mzs]

The NY Times blog was just useless speculation from yesterday:

https://auctionbidding.fcc.gov/auction/home/announcementDetail.htm?ann_id=402 [fcc.gov]

Announcement

1/31/2008 11:00:41 AM
C Block Reserve Price Met in Round 17
At the conclusion of Round 17, the provisionally
winning bids for the C Block licenses exceeded the
aggregate reserve price of $4,637,854,000 for the
block.

Re:I don't understand why...

[wramsdel]

Basically, it's a tool to stimulate bidding. In a typical auction, the seller is obligated (by contract or at least good faith) to sell the item to the highest bidder. A reserve allows the seller to hedge her/his bets by defining a window between the minimum bid and the reserve in which a they're not required to sell, but do have the option. Often the reserve is not disclosed since bidders might be turned away by sticker shock.

Re:too bad

[Retric]

I like how he used Income Taxes implying that that's where the US government gets most of its revenue. Note: Social Security at $544 billion / year is not part of the IRS's Income tax numbers and it's mostly paid by those making 100k or less each year.

The share of total income taxes paid by the top 1% of wage earners rose to 34.27% from 33.71% in 2002. Their income share (not just wages) rose from 16.12% to 16.77%. However, their average tax rate actually dropped from 27.25% down to 24.31%

So the rich 1% pay 34.27% the middle class pay ~96.54% - 34.27% = 62.27% of income taxes and the middle class also pays 500 billion for Social Security and most property, excise and sales taxes.

So yes if you look at all the numbers the middle class is paying most of the taxes.

Re:too bad

[Anonymous Coward]

So the rich 1% pay 34.27% the middle class pay ~96.54% - 34.27% = 62.27% of income taxes and the middle class also pays 500 billion for Social Security and most property, excise and sales taxes.

So pretty much everyone who is not in the top 1% is middle class? That's not gonna fly.

When they talk about middle class, lower middle class, upper middle class, etc - they're talking about quintiles named "lower class, lower middle class, middle class, upper middle class, and upper class" - not everybody who is not in the top 1%.

Upper class is the top 20%, not the top 1% - and since the top 10% of wage earners pay around 64% of the taxes, your argument is completely invalid. Even if you took all of the lower middle class, middle class, and upper middle class as a "middle class", they can't possibly be paying anything like the 62% of the taxes you claim - the math just doesn't work.

Your definition of "middle class" is highly suspect - and therefore, so are your claims.