Today marks a new day in technology. The Federal Communications Commission announced that the auction for the 700mHz wireless spectrum has ended with the closing bid of $19.6 Billion. They have yet to release the winner, but I’ll be sure to update this post as soon as it’s announced. The winner is either Verizon, AT&T, or Google.
“The winning bids totaled $19,592,420,000. That’s nearly double the amount the commission had hoped to raise from the spectrum being abandoned next year as television stations switch to new frequencies”. -NyTimes.com
Why is this such a big deal?
If you aren’t aware, the wireless spectrum up for grabs here will give the winning bidder
access to some of the best remaining spectrum – enabling them to send signals farther from a cell tower with far less power, through dense walls in cities and over wider territories in rural areas that are now underserved. – NyTimes.com
What we the consumers can expect…
Expect a higher demand in mobile devices. Data will be pushed across this wireless spectrum much more freely. I predict to see a massive explosion of mobile internet browsing and sharing (right now, only about 10% of mobile phone users use the internet). Bittorrent P2P sharing will boom as people will be more willing to share data if the speeds are faster. Very exciting stuff…