Google may partner in 700 MHz auction

Google CEO Eric Schmidt this week floated the possibility that Google could make use of at least one partner to bid in the upcoming 700 MHz auction in January. Google was integral to the cause of "opening" up one slice of the spectrum in the C-Block, which now requires the winning bidder to allow "any device" on the network and "any application." Schmidt has previously said that Google would "probably" bid in the auction.

"It's perfectly possible that the best bidding strategy may be to bid with one or more partners," Schmidt said. "We won't make our decision until that last minute."

"If you want to change an industry, it is important to put our money where our mouth is," said Google's VP of engineering, Alan Eustace. "As a company, it is important that we work to make mobile systems as useful and expandable as the way the Internet has been."

For more on Google's interest in the upcoming spectrum auctions:
- read this article from Dow Jones