Google's much commented on bid for airwaves in an upcoming US auction has finally been officially accepted.Along with 96 other companies intent on securing part of the wireless spectrum which will become available in 2009, Google's proposal was deemed "accepted for filing" by the Federal Communications Commission, the Associated Press reports.
In total, 266 firms applied to the commission for an opportunity to take part in the auction, which is scheduled to occur on January 24th.
Among the applicants was Verizon Wireless, which, along with Google, had been expected to stake a claim on the spectrum.
However, its submission was judged to be "incomplete", meaning it will have to be resubmitted containing more information.
Also struggling to have their tenders accepted by the commission were AT&T, Licenseco, Alltel, Chevron USA, Cox Wireless and Qualcomm, whose proposals were also deemed incomplete.
Earlier this year, Google had successfully lobbied to persuade regulators in the US to force the winning bidder to open their networks to competing providers of mobile services.
This had prompted some analysts to suggest that the search engine provider may in fact not attempt to triumph in its auction bid, since it would have access to airwaves without having to build its own costly network.
However, if Google failed to bid at all, its open access requirements would no longer stand.
The results of the auction will not be known until the end of next month.
