As Coveted As Oil Reserves

That’s what Stephen Labaton writes at The NYT about today’s 700 MHz auction of prized licenses to now available radio spectrum airwaves.

“And the licenses are on the auction block just as it is becoming obvious to industry players and investors that wireless broadband is rapidly becoming the next big thing, the mobile Internet.

The latest government report indicates that in 2006, mobile wireless high-speed subscribers grew nationwide by more than 600 percent, and that during the last half of the year, those subscribers made up nearly two-thirds of the total growth in all high-speed lines.”

You can follow the auctions’ results here. [link edited but you can still use the old link I had here - the auction is #73]

I share this opinion – “Google is run by idealists who want to change the world and have the money to undertake grand projects” which I’ll leave right there…

Make note: “The 700 MHz band could beam high-speed Internet signals to every park bench, schoolroom, workplace and home in America.”