Eric Schmidt

Despite somber frowns from the FCC, Google still plans to bid in the US mobile phone airwave auctions.

Google CEO Eric Schmidt said the company will "probably" bid on excess wireless spectrum made available once broadcast TV goes entirely digital in 2009, reports Reuters.

Google has already committed at least $4.6 billion to the wireless spectrum, but was set back due to disagreements with the FCC.

Though the FCC did not grant Google the request that winning bidders in auctions for 700 Mhz radio spectrum must resell access to rivals at wholesale rates, it will fulfill a request by Google and others that winning bidders allow any mobile device, software or web service to run on the new networks, not just carrier-based services.

The move will pit Google against major mobile phone providers AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile.