Public spectrum to be auctioned
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Public organisations will be able to trade valuable radio spectrum under new plans, announces Ofcom.
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Several companies have challenged spectrum auction rules recently set by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission, with Frontline Wireless LLC protesting that the auction of the 700MHz band to be auctioned in January could shut out small bidders.
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Bidding reached $18.55 billion on  Friday in the U.S. Federal Communications Commission's  record-setting auction of government-owned wireless airwaves,  but there were no new offers for two large, closely watched  slices of spectrum.
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InfoWorld - The U.S. government has given away between $140 billion and $480 billion worth of radio spectrum to wireless providers and broadcasters since 1993, according to a study released Tuesday.
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The high bids totalled $3.2 billion in the U.S. Federal Communications Commission&#39;s&#160;auction of wireless spectrum licenses in the 700MHz band&#160;after three rounds and a day and a half of bidding.
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Bidding remained stalled Tuesday on  a key piece of spectrum in the government's wireless airwaves  auction, prompting concern regulators will have to modify rules  requiring some of it be shared with public safety agencies.
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Blog: Google announces a willingness to commit $4.6 billion to the Federal Communications Commission's upcoming wireless spectrum 700MHz band auction - with strings attached.
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WASHINGTON/NEW YORK  - Google Inc  said on  Friday it would take part in a major auction of wireless  spectrum airwaves, meeting a minimum required bid of $4.6  billion, if U.S. regulators added a sale condition that Google  said would promote an open wireless market.
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More than 200 companies qualified to bid in the upcoming auction of public airwaves that could raise as much as $15 billion for the U.S. Treasury. But it's not clear whether any of those companies will fulfill one of the key goals of the auction -- to attract a bidder that would build a wireless...
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The Federal Communications Commission is set next month to decide how to auction spectrum to wireless carriers to bring high-speed Internet service to  airlines as early as next year. But, regulators have been boxed into a corner: promote low prices and great features, or ensure the service works reliably.
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Frontline Wireless, a startup that had planned to bid in the U.S. Federal Communications Commission&#39;s upcoming&#160;700MHz spectrum auction, has &quot;closed for business,&quot; a spokeswoman said Wednesday.Frontline, backed by veterans of the wireless industry and U.S. government, was one of the major advocates of a plan for the FCC to pair about 10MHz of spectrum set aside for emergency response agency communications to another 10MHz to be sold in the auction starting Jan. 24. The auction winner would then be required to build a wireless network that emergency responders such as police and fire departments could share with commercial interests.Frontline had also pushed the FCC to adopt so-called&#160;open-access rules&#160;on part of the 62MHz of spectrum to be auctioned.The FCC in July largely adopted the emergency communications auction plan advocated by Frontline and other groups, and it approved an amended open-access plan on 22MHz of the spectrum. The FCC required that the winner of the 22MHz allow any wireless devices to connect to the network, meaning wireless telephone customers could bring their handset devices from other carriers. The FCC also prohibited the winning bidder on the 22MHz block of spectrum from blocking or slowing wireless and Web content from competitors.Frontline spokeswoman Mary Greczyn said Wednesday the company would have no further comment beyond saying Frontline is &quot;closed for business at this time.&quot;Up-front payments for bidding in the 700MHz auction were due Jan. 4. The up-front payment for the D block, the spectrum for emergency communications, was $128.2 million, and the payment for the 22MHz C block was $282.1 million.Frontline, based in Greensboro, North Carolina, first made a splash in early 2007, when it&#160;proposed an open-access network&#160;that emergency responders would share with commercial providers. Frontline said then it planned to offer wholesale access to the network to other wireless providers.Frontline was backed by several heavy hitters in the wireless and tech industries, as well as former senior U.S. government officials. Haynes Griffin, founding CEO and president of Vanguard Cellular Systems, served as Frontline&#39;s CEO, and Janice Obuchowski, former head of the U.S. National Telecommunications and Information Administration, served as the company&#39;s chairwoman. Reed Hundt, a former chairman of the FCC, served as Frontline&#39;s vice chairman.James Barksdale, former CEO at Netscape, and John Doerr, a partner in the Kleiner Perkins Caulfield &amp; Byers venture capital firm, were among the company&#39;s backers.
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Range wars The US auction of AWS (Advanced Wireless Services) spectrum in the 1.7GHz and 2.1GHz bands is finally drawing to a close, raising a likely $14bn for the government in the sale of the largest block of spectrum (1,112 licenses) offered by the FCC regulator.â¦
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The high bids totalled $3.2 billion in the U.S. Federal Communications Commission&#39;s&#160;auction of wireless spectrum licenses in the 700MHz band&#160;after three rounds and a day and a half of bidding.That figure is far short of the $10 billion Congress and the FCC expect to raise in&#160;the auction, which opened Thursday, but bidding could continue for weeks. In most cases, the high bids don&#39;t yet meet the FCC&#39;s reserve price set for minimum winning bids.A fourth round of bidding will happen Friday afternoon.The 700MHz auctions represent the last large chunk of spectrum available for the FCC to auction in the foreseeable future. The spectrum, now used to carry over-the-air television signals, can be used to carry long-range wireless broadband traffic. Consumer groups have said the spectrum represents the &quot;last, best hope&quot; for a nationwide wireless broadband network that competes with cable and telecom broadband services.For sale is 62MHz of spectrum in the 700MHz band. In late 2005, after a decade of debate, Congress passed a law requiring U.S. TV stations to move to all-digital broadcasts and abandon analog spectrum between channels 52 and 69. The deadline for TV stations to end broadcasts in the 700MHz band is February 2009.After three rounds, 906 of the 1,099 available spectrum licenses had bids, with four more licenses receiving bids than at the end of round two late Thursday. High bids had totalled just under $2.8 billion after round 2, and just over $2.4 billion after round one Thursday morning.The top bid after the third round was $1.49 billion for eight of 12 regional licenses in the C block, a 22MHz block of spectrum covering all 50 states. The bidding for those C block licenses was up from $1.24 billion at the end of the second round. The FCC&#39;s reserve price for the C block is $4.6 billion, and the winning bidders of C block spectrum must allow any legal devices to connect to their network, including mobile phones purchased from other carriers.The second highest bid remained $472 million for the D block, a nationwide 10MHz chunk of spectrum to be paired with another 10MHz set aside for public safety agencies. The bidder of the D block would be required to build a national network to be jointly used by public safety agencies and commercial customers. The high bid for the D block has remained unchanged since round one.Bidding in the auction is anonymous.The A block, a 12MHz piece of spectrum covering parts of New York and the northeastern U.S., also generated interest. The high bid was $119.8 million after the third round, up from $100 million after the second round and $83.2 million after the first round. A similar chunk of spectrum in the E block, also covering the same area, has generated a high bid of $59.9 million after the third round.The high bid for a 12MHz block called the B block, for a local New York City license, stood at $85.6 million after rounds two and three.High bids for five blocks in the Chicago, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C., areas were between $28 million and $55 million after round three.
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The bidding topped $3.7 billion on  the second day of the Federal Communications Commission's  auction of government-owned airwaves, but there were no new  suitors Friday for a closely watched block of spectrum to be  shared with public safety agencies.
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The Federal Communications Commission said its wireless spectrum auction ended money, netting the U.S. Government a record $13.9 billion. T-Mobile led all bidders with $4.2 billion bid across 120 licenses.
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The Bush administration is expected to press for speedier licensing of public airwaves for auction to private companies. But telecom regulators say wireless apps need unlicensed spectrum too. By Joanna Glasner.
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Carnegie Mellon professor and telecommunications expert David Farber explains what's at stake in the January 2008 FCC auction of spectrum in the 700-MHz band -- spectrum that Google has expressed interest in.