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Robert X. Cringely on Popular Mechanics: "Some pundits (that would be me) think Google will bid to win its spectrum block, then will trade that block to Sprint/Nextel for some of that company's 2.5-GHz WiMAX licenses that are far better suited for data. Sprint Nextel, the number three U.S. mobile operator, is conspicuously absent from this week's list of bidders, and its WiMAX strategy is in flux following the recent firing of CEO Gary Forsee, who was a big WiMAX backer. As the auction winner, Google could impose on Sprint Nextel its full open access requirements for the 700-MHz band (not just the limited access mandated for the band last year by the FCC), then extend that same access to its new WiMAX frequencies in a kind of one-two punch that would dramatically open up wireless data nationwide (that's good for you and me). FCC chairman Kevin Martin was asked last week about just such a Google switcheroo and said the Commission would have no problem with it."

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