After 15 rounds of bidding, Qualcomm was top bidder in FCC’s lowe...
After 15 rounds of bidding, Qualcomm was top bidder in FCC’s lower 700 MHz auction as of the end of the day Mon. with 5 high bids with a combined value of nearly $38 million. The auction of 256…
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licenses in the lower 700 MHz C- and D- block has generated $56.6 million in high bids so far. The licenses include 251 C- and D-block licenses that remained unsold in an auction that closed in Sept. 2002. Qualcomm is vying for licenses that for economic area groupings (EAGs) covering regional areas of the Southeast, Northeast, Central/Mountain areas, Great Lakes and Mid-Atlantic. The EAG licenses comprise the D-block spectrum of unpaired spectrum at 716-722 MHz. Qualcomm’s highest bid for the Southeast license was $8.5 million, followed by $8.2 million for the Northeast, $7.8 million for Central/Mountain, $6.6 million for the Great Lakes and $5.9 million for the Mid- Atlantic. Aloha Partners was a distant 2nd to Qualcomm with $6.5 million in bids for 89 licenses. The Commission’s Wireless Bureau recently granted Qualcomm an extra year to use the remainder of an auction discount voucher that had been set to expire June 8. Qualcomm had told the FCC it was considering using the $114 million voucher in the lower 700 MHz bidding. On Mon., bid rounds increased to 6 from 2 per day.