Qualcomm was by far the highest bidder in the FCC’s lower 700 MHz...
Qualcomm was by far the highest bidder in the FCC’s lower 700 MHz auction that closed Fri., with the wireless equipment-maker submitting $38.03 million in high bids for all 5 economic area group (EAG) licenses. The nearly 2-week auction,…
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after 86 rounds, generated $56.8 million in high bids, with 35 participants winning 251 licenses. The EAG spectrum covers regional areas of the Southeast, Northeast, Central/Mountain areas, Great Lakes and Mid-Atlantic. The licenses make up the D-block of unpaired spectrum at 716-722 MHz. Other spectrum included 246 C-block licenses. Both the C- and D-block spectrum involve licenses that remained unsold in an auction in Sept. 2002. Far behind Qualcomm, the 2nd highest bidder was Aloha Partners, with $5.8 million, followed by Cavalier Group with $2.1 million and LIN TV with nearly $2 million. The FCC’s Wireless Bureau earlier had 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.