Spectrum Auction: Now Comes the Action-Packed Bonus Round
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The Federal Communications Commission said that,  starting Wednesday, new rules will apply that will encourage more bidding and hasten the auctionâs end.
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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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Cellphone customers should soon encounter fewer dead spots in their coverage areas and more easily use next-generation phones that play television-quality video and perform other high-tech tricks, thanks to a Federal Communications Commission spectrum auction that concluded yesterday.
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At the close of the first full day of&#160;bidding for 700MHz wireless spectrum&#160;Thursday, the Federal Communications Commission reported nearly $2.8 billion in provisional winning bids.There were 1,122 new bids filed in the second of two rounds that was held in the afternoon. The total value of all provisional bid winners jumped 15 percent from the morning bidding round, when $2.4 billion was offered.A total of 1,099 licenses can be bid upon, although only 902 had received bids by the end of the day.All the bids are filed anonymously and bidders are prohibited from publicly discussing their bids in an effort to reduce anticompetitive behavior, the FCC said.Computerworld is an InfoWorld affiliate.
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InfoWorld - The high bids totalled $3.2 billion in the U.S. Federal Communications Commission'sÂ auction of wireless spectrum licenses in the 700MHz bandÂ after three rounds and a day and a half of bidding.
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On Thursday, the Federal Communications Commission will auction off what industry observers call the "sweet spot" of the wireless spectrum -- the 700-MHz block formerly occupied by television broadcasters. Among the bidders are some 214 companies, including Verizon, AT&T and, most famously, Google.
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Business & money: Â· Auction poses threat to established networksÂ· Ofcom wants spectrum from Vodafone and O2
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While an auction is underway for a large chunk of wireless spectrum in the 700MHz range, the FCC approved a separate deal enabling AT&T to acquire similar wireless spectrum from another owner.
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As the FCC opens a multibillion-dollar spectrum auction, questions remain, including  whether the auction will produce a winning bidder that will challenge telecom and cable-based broadband providers with a national wireless broadband network.
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The FCC auction of 700-MHz spectrum, which started January 24, is one of the biggest sell-offs of radio spectrum in years, and it's expected to raise at least $10 billion. Wired News explains what's at stake with this list of questions and answers.
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Here's how the FCC's auction of large chunks of wireless spectrum could change the nature of mobility.
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A bid on the largest portion of public wireless airwaves, now being auctioned by the federal government, reached $4.7 billion on Thursday, triggering a provision to allow any device or software to work on that spectrum.
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Bids in the F.C.C.âs auction for wireless spectrum reached the governmentâs $10 billion goal. One problem: bidding for the biggest block of frequencies stalled at $4.3 billion, below the $4.6 billion reserve price.
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If the FCC's auction of former UHF bandwidth were to end here, it might raise over $19 billion. But with bidding activity slowing to a crawl, the Commission has one more tool in its arsenal to squeeze out some more value.
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The FCC releases names of 266 companies officially planning to bid in the government's upcoming 700-MHz-spectrum auction. More than half those botched their initial applications, including big names like Verizon, AT&T,  Qualcomm and Alltel. They have until Jan. 4 to qualify for the auction.
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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. The New America Foundation, a think tank calling for new ways to manage U.S. spectrum, said most of the giveaway has come not through underperforming auctions but through "below the radar" lobbying tactics by spectrum holders. Much of the spectrum giveaway comes through strategies like case-by-case waivers for flexible spectrum use granted by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC), poorly defined spectrum boundaries, and spectrum holders polluting neighboring spectrum, said J.H. Snider, author of the study. In many cases, the FCC has automatically renewed spectrum licenses even through spectrum law allows for licensing for "limited periods of time," he added. The U.S. government raised about $40 billion in more than 80 spectrum auctions since 1993, Snider said at a forum in Washington, D.C. But wireless providers and broadcasters, in financial reports to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, have given that spectrum a value of about $180 billion, he said. The spectrum is likely worth much more than those estimates, he added. Using past auction figures, the value of the spectrum could be more than $520 billion, he said. The U.S. government is losing "mega dollars," said Bob Edgar, a former Democratic congressman and president and CEO of Common Cause. "We've got to generate some reasonable recovery" of the spectrum value, he said. He compared the current auction model to New York City licensing hot dog stands and giving the vendors the authority to build skyscrapers next door. Edgar, also a United Methodist Church minister, said the U.S. government could provide health care to the poor and several other services with the money if it charged the full amount for the value of the spectrum. Gary Bass, executive director of government watchdog group OMB Watch, agreed and called for more spectrum to be opened up to multiple users. "What would be our reaction if we gave away our interstate highway system to General Motors, then General Motors decided what cars were allowed on the highways?" he said. Snider called for a less complicated spectrum policy in the U.S. and a more open process for auctioning and making changes to spectrum allocations. Right now, only a few experts understand spectrum policy, he said. The FCC needs a new way of auctioning spectrum "so the public can value its worth and is motivated to get involved in the process," he said. Participants in the New America forum said it's important to look at FCC spectrum policy now as the agency prepares rules to auction about 60MHz of spectrum in the valuable 700MHz band. That auction is set to happen by early next year. An FCC spokesman didn't immediately respond to a request for a comment on the New America study, but CTIA, a trade group representing wireless carriers, said recent auctions have been successful in raising money for the U.S. government. An advanced wireless services auction that concluded in September raised $13.7 billion for the U.S. government, said Joseph Farren, CTIA's director of public affairs. That auction was "an enormous success" and shows major changes aren't needed, he said. New America has called for open access rules that would require winners of part of the 700MHz spectrum to sell the spectrum at wholesale rates to competitors. Such proposals would decrease the value of the spectrum and limit bids, Farren said. "The most effective and efficient way to action spectrum in the public interest is thorough an open and fair process where all providers are on equal footing," Farren said.
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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¦