The FCC gag rule preventing Auction 73 bidders from talking about their mobile plans expired today, and boy is the news starting to flow. Google freely admits that it bid in the auction with the intent of driving up the price to reach the open access provisions.Joseph Faber, corporate counsel for Google, wrote a posting on the Google Public Policy blog and stated quite blatantly, "Google's top priority heading into the auction was to make sure that bidding on the so-called 'C Block' reached the $4.6 billion reserve price that would trigger the important 'open applications' and 'open handsets' license conditions."

He also wrote, "We were also prepared to gain the nationwide C Block licenses at a price somewhat higher than the reserve price; in fact, for many days during the early course of the auction, we were the high bidder. But it was clear, then and now, that Verizon Wireless ultimately was motivated to bid higher and had far more financial incentive to gain the licenses."

Uh, no kidding.

I don't know if I believe that Google intended to win the spectrum, but this confirms everything analysts have been saying about Google's participation in the auction.

Given Google's own financial incentives for there to be a network that can accept its Android phones, it was a wisely played move.

Faber wrote, "Android is already off to a successful start, and we are likely to see handsets later this year based on the Android platform. We will continue advocating for the FCC to open up the vacant 'white spaces' in the TV spectrum band for mobile broadband uses."

Google clearly intends to be a key player in the wireless industry and isn't afraid to be pushy to get what it wants.