Airwaves Auction Imminent
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The auction for rights to a highly valuable swath of the nationâs airwaves will begin Thursday and is expected to include multibillion-dollar bids from the nationâs two biggest wireless phone companies.
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A bidder on Thursday offered $4.71  billion for a key slice of wireless airwaves being sold by the  government, triggering a condition that the spectrum be  accessible to any device or software application.
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One of the major questions as the U.S. Federal Communications Commission kicks off a multibillion-dollar spectrum auction Thursday is 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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Bids in the government's airwaves auction hit $974 million as large carriers wheel and deal to win coveted licenses covering lucrative markets.
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The FCC's auction of prime wireless spectrum could create new competition for broadband Internet. Or not. The bidding rules will be key.
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Google Inc. on Friday said it will bid at least $4.6 billion for wireless airwaves being auctioned off by the federal government &#151; if certain conditions are met.
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The upcoming FCC auction of 700-MHz spectrum 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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Top bidders put up a total of almost  $2.78 billion on Thursday in the opening rounds of the Federal  Communications Commission's auction of coveted U.S.  government-owned airwaves.
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A bidder on Thursday offered $4.71  billion for a key piece of wireless airwaves being auctioned by  the U.S. government, surpassing a minimum bid requirement and  triggering a condition that the spectrum be accessible to any  device or software application.
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Bids on the opening day of a much-anticipated auction of public airwaves totaled $2.8 billion Thursday, according to the Federal Communications Commission.
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The U.S. sale of airwaves for   advanced wireless services grossed a record $13.9 billion when   it ended on Monday, and spectrum-hungry wireless carrier   T-Mobile USA, Verizon Wireless and a group of cable companies   were the highest bidders.
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An effort to create a nationwide wireless network for firefighters, police and other emergency responders has hit a stumbling block as the Federal Communications Commission's auction for airwaves dedicated for public-safety use has attracted paltry interest from bidders.
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Like the U.S., the British government is getting ready to auction a big chunk of wireless spectrum that could be used for WiMax or other wireless data services.
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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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Bidding on a coveted block of wireless frequencies continued yesterday, as unidentified companies continued to compete for rights to build the nation's first open wireless network.
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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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The upcoming 700MHz spectrum auctions by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC)&#160;have drawn bid applications from giant companies including Google and AT&amp;T. But a number of small companies and individuals have submitted bid applications as well.Late Tuesday, the FCC announced that it had accepted bids from 96 applicants and has another 170 applications that are incomplete for the auction of highly coveted spectrum that can be used for voice or wireless broadband service.Some of those applicants may not complete their applications. In the FCC&#39;s advanced wireless services auction in 2006, 252 organizations submitted applications, and there were 168 qualified bidders.It&#39;s typical that several initial applicants will bow out before they have to submit deposit payments, said analyst Jack Gold of J. Gold Associates. &quot;When it comes to putting down earnest money, many [applicants] back away or can&#39;t get the money,&quot; he said.Applicants have until Jan. 4 to pay their deposits or resubmit their applications for the auction, which begins Jan. 24.The FCC designed the auction in an effort to attract small bidders. Up for sale is 62MHz of spectrum in the 700MHz band, now occupied by U.S. television stations. In late 2005, Congress passed legislation 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.The spectrum is broken up into five blocks, with three of the five blocks divided into small geographic areas. A 12MHz block of spectrum called the A block is divided up into 176 small geographic areas, called economic areas, as is the 6MHz E block. The 12MHz B block is broken up into 734 local areas called cellular market areas. Bidders can win multiple regional or local licenses.But the chances of small companies winning significant amounts of spectrum is &quot;pretty slim,&quot; Gold said. &quot;Any areas with significant population densities will bring in the big boys, who seek revenues from a mass market,&quot; he said. &quot;I suppose some smallish rural areas may be of less interest to AT&amp;T [or] Verizon, but these guys want true countrywide networks, so they will likely bid there anyway.&quot;Several unfamiliar names are among the prospective bidders who submitted incomplete applications:-- Office of Spectral Ecology, listed as an unincorporated association, with one board member, based in Montreal.-- Dragon Arch, listed as a corporation based in New York City.-- FaithFone Wireless, a Phoenix wireless carrier launched in September 2006. FaithFone is a self-described &quot;purpose-driven Christian mobile phone company, offering a cell phone service combining faith and family content.&quot; FaithFone&#39;s wireless service offers daily devotionals, Bible passages and a prayer of the day through text messaging.-- The Navajo Department of Information Technology.-- Part-15.org, a nonprofit organization for users of unlicensed wireless spectrum.Smaller companies with annual revenue of less than $15 million that have submitted complete applications include:-- Grain Spectrum, based in Sarasota, Florida, a minority-owned company focused on building wireless networks for government users.-- GreenFly, a mobile services provider founded in 2006 and based in Scottsbluff, Nebraska.-- Xpressweb Internet Services, an Internet service provider based in Kanab, Utah.The auction, expected to raise more than $10 billion, is likely to last several weeks. Many spectrum experts call the 700MHz band &quot;beachfront&quot; property because it can carry wireless broadband signals three to four times farther than some other spectrum bands.Since early December, applicants have been in an FCC-mandated quiet period. The FCC spectrum auction rules prohibit collusion on bidding plans.