FCC commissioner Jonathan Adelstein has doubts about whether Google, Microsoft and company will really enter the broadband market to battle incumbents. Groups like the Save Our Spectrum Coalition, composed of heavyweights like Google, Microsoft, hardware vendors and consumer advocates, believe the available 700MHz spectrum could be used to provide inexpensive broadband to a significant portion of the public, but the FCC doubts any of them will step up to the plate to actually deliver it.

A recent report (pdf) boldly suggested that every American household could see access "for as little as $10 a month, by some estimates" by using the freed spectrum.

While Google, Microsoft and company have talked a lot about the potential for using the spectrum for a new competitive broadband front (and submitted a device for testing), the FCC fears they'll ultimately bail out of the auction like Echostar & DirecTV recently did after lobbying for rule changes.

"You are talking about a several billion dollar commitment followed by probably between $10-$15 billion more to build the actual network - if someone was preparing that sort of business plan, you would think there'd be some sort of evidence of it," says Adelstein.