An article in the Business Standard, yesterday, suggested that Google is considering participating in India's wireless auction, and that it could bid for either the 3G or Broadband Wireless Access auction . The article was based on inputs "telecom industry sources", there was no official confirmation or denial from Google. We're awaiting a response as well, and according to our Google sources, there are no such plans. However, I do hope that the Business Standard story is right, and Google does plan to get involved in the BWA auction, whether by themselves or with a partner. The BWA auction is an opportunity to get broadband right in India, and I think you need a long term play to make it succeed. You need three things - someone who understands that the value of incremental usage among consumers (hence a long term play), understands the Internet space and what consumers want, and has really deep pockets: companies like Google and Yahoo fit that bill. I don't think any of the telecom operators in India have the DNA of an Internet company to understand or perhaps consider driving usage, unless forced by government policy. Given that most of their resources and top management bandwidth is tied up in the battle over mobile voice, they don't appear to be interested in broadband beyond a landgrab. One can't really blame them because in the medium or even long term, the ROI in broadband just isn't there. The ISPs are too small as well. My conspiracy theory is…
