Despite many suggestions that Google’s FCC bid talk was more of a ploy to secure open-access clauses in the 700MHz spectrum contract, the Wall Street Journal is convinced that the search company will push ahead and declare an intention-to-bid by the December 3rd deadline.  Quoting “several people familiar with the matter” the paper suggests Google fears a loss of goodwill in Washington should it pull out of the running, and this - together with the confirmation that building the financial backing would be eminently possible thanks to Wall Street support - has led them to plan to bid on their own, without the expected partners.

“The complexity of the possible bidding scenarios and auction outcomes has led Google executives to believe they would benefit from the flexibility of bidding alone. They were also concerned about alienating allies by selecting some and not others as bid partners” WSJ

At their base in Mountain View, Google is already experimenting with high-speed wireless networks under FCC test licences, with staff trialling prototype Android handsets; article co-authors Kevin Delaney and Amol Sharma believe this is not only an experiment with cellular models but in rolling out a high-speed network, and that Google believe they can do this cheaper than other operators.  The fact that the 700MHz spectrum requires fewer than normal transmission towers, thanks to long-reaching signals, would further facilitate the rapid roll-out of a large scale network.

“In the meantime, we are making all the necessary preparations to become an applicant to bid.  Our goal is to make sure that American consumers have more choices in an open and competitive wireless world” Google spokesman

Right now, the direction the company may go in is unclear.  Although a cellular network of their own would be a powerful tool for delivering Google services, it would nonetheless be an expensive one - perhaps $3bn to deliver service nationally - and would put the company well outside of their current comfort zone.  Alternatively, this could be seen as a leveraging move intended to force existing operators - who also have expressed interest in the 700MHz spectrum - to cooperate more with Google in return for the tacit agreement that the search giant would withdraw its intention to bid.