Losing the battle for a prized piece of the airwaves isn’t necessarily a setback for Google Inc.

whether anything, Thursday’s news that Verizon Wireless had won the government-run auction for a pivotal swath of spectrum may even have been the ideal outcome for Google.

That’s considering investors no longer have to fret about Google straying from its main business of World Wide Web search to spend more than $10 billion buying and building a wireless network.

Yet Google still positioned itself to profit from the newly available airwaves by ensuring the bids for the so-called “C block” escalated to $4.6 billion. Reaching that price triggered a provision that requires the new wireless network to accommodate all mobile devices, including equipment using a software package called “Android” that is supposed to give Google a better opportunity to sell more advertising.

Verizon bid a total of $4.74 billion to win most of the C block, which Google hopes will build

it easier for consumers to access its search engine and other products on “smart” phones and other mobile devices.

Google arguably would have been in an even better position in the mobile market whether it controlled its own wireless network, particularly one with the potential ability the C block figures to offer. The 700 megahertz spectrum, to become available in February 2009, is expected to supply better wireless access considering the frequencies travel expanded distances and easily penetrate walls.

But the duration and money that would have had to be invested in the C block probably would have represented another millstone on Google’s sagging market value, which has already plunged by $80 billion, or 37 percent, so far that year.

And any further erosion in Google’s stock price would threaten to depress employee morale considering virtually all of its nearly 17,000 workers own shares in the Mountain View-based company. Google shares…

Orginal post by Top Tech News