Companies bid $897.8 million in the FCC’s 2nd round AWS spectrum a...
Companies bid $897.8 million in the FCC’s 2nd round AWS spectrum auction late Wed., an 18% increase from the first batch earlier in the day. Wireless DBS, a DirecTV and EchoStar joint venture, emerged as one of the largest…
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participants, boosting its high bids to $282.4 million, from about $31 million in the first round. The satellite firms probably want spectrum to build a nationwide wireless broadband network to compete with cable and telcos (CD Aug 7 p 2). T-Mobile, the largest participant in the first round, saw its high bids decrease by about 2/3 to $121.7 million in the 2nd round. T-Mobile is expected to be active because it’s bandwidth starved. With bidding far from complete, 2 analysts told us it’s too soon to predict the outcome. “As the auction continues to progress, we expect the rounds to progress in frequency and become more competitive in the price,” said Medley Global Advisors’ Jessica Zufolo: “These early rounds don’t really provide much guidance… other than all those who were expected to be aggressive bidders are indeed showing up and actively participating.” Cablevision’s controlling family bid $88.9 million for Long Island, N.Y., and other Northeast U.S. spectrum. Dolan Family Holdings, which is separate from the cable operator, is expected to use any spectrum it acquires to offer wireless services over home IP networks. Cingular $44.6 million in high bids. Auction 66 bidding is scheduled to reopen around 10 a.m. Eastern time today (Wed.).