The FCC ended Auction No. 66 for AWS spectrum analysts said may see use for wireless broadband and video, netting $13.7 billion. Top 5 winning bidders, in descending order: T-Mobile, Verizon Wireless, SpectrumCo, MetroPCS and Cingular. Mobile broadband networks will help consumers, Chmn. Martin said, adding that the sale featured “the largest amount of spectrum suitable for wireless broadband ever offered in a single FCC auction.” Down payments on licenses are due within 10 days of a public notice announcing the auction’s end, the FCC said. A group of 35 licenses that went unsold will “be made available again in a future auction,” the FCC said late Mon.; companies that quit the auction may bid on them, said Medley Global’s Jessica Zufolo. She added: “There is an auction in 2 years that is a lot more important to the entire sector that is offering superior frequencies.” - JM
Wireless Spectrum Auctions
The FCC manages and licenses the electromagnetic spectrum used by wireless, broadcast, satellite and other telecommunications services for government and commercial users. This activity includes organizing specific telecommunications modes to only use specific frequencies and maintaining the licensing systems for each frequency such that communications services and devices using different bands receive as little interference as possible.
What are spectrum auctions?
The FCC will periodically hold auctions of unused or newly available spectrum frequencies, in which potential licensees can bid to acquire the rights to use a specific frequency for a specific purpose. As an example, over the last few years the U.S. government has conducted periodic auctions of different GHz bands to support the growth of 5G services.
Cable operators bidding on AWS spectrum will probably use it to provide wireless video, access to home PVRs and improved VoIP service, helping the industry fend off video competition from telcos, said industry lawyers and analysts. SpectrumCo had $2.38 billion in high bids in round 148 of the FCC auction, which analysts said is winding down. Consortium members including Comcast and Time Warner are nearly certain to use the spectrum to beef up broadband wireless offerings to existing customers, said 4 lawyers and analysts.
DirecTV is “aggressively looking at other” wireless broadband options since dropping out of the AWS auction, CFO Michael Palkovic said at the Merrill Lynch conference late Wed. DirecTV and EchoStar participated “briefly” in the AWS auction under joint venture Wireless DBS, Palkovic said, bailing out in round 15, after having started with nearly $1 billion in AWS bidding credits. “We decided it wasn’t the best place for us to make an investment,” Palkovic said. The auction played out as DirecTV expected, he said: “We stayed in just on the hope that maybe it would play out a little differently and there was an opportunity. There wasn’t.” AWS spectrum isn’t ideal for wireless broadband anyway, according to Palkovic: “It’s better suited for cellular.” A broadband deal has been slower coming than DirecTV “originally estimated,” he said. Expect an announcement “in the next few months,” he said.
Wireless issues appear to be getting more attention from FCC Chmn. Martin and his top advisers, perhaps the most since he became chairman 18 months ago. In recent days, the Commission has released items addressing 700 MHz spectrum and use of broadcast “white spaces.” On a UBS investor call Thurs., wireless issues were the first Martin discussed.
Mobile Satellite Services firms that spent years getting the Ancillary Terrestrial Component (ATC) concept accepted at the FCC have a new regulatory front: Europe. There, ATC goes by CGC (Complementary Ground Component), but the fundamentals -- and concerns over the technology -- are the same. European regulators studying terrestrial reuse of S- band satellite spectrum are hitting resistance from terrestrial wireless, assessing interference concerns and addressing legacy license issues, all in a web of European regulation. MSS executives call the scenario “a replay” of battles over ATC in the U.S. in the late 1990s and after.
LOS ANGELES -- The state preemption debate wouldn’t die, even as panelists discussed a plethora of issues Tues. at CTIA’s afternoon policy panel here. A collection of regulators and industry executives said preeminent policy issues in coming years will include the 700 MHz spectrum auction, the upcoming BellSouth/AT&T merger, truth-in-billing issues and net neutrality. But the state preemption debate dominated the panel, even drawing comments from PUC and FCC officials in the audience.
LOS ANGELES - CTIA’s policy focus will be limited, but there will be familiar themes at the group’s convention here this week, according to several officials. Unified wireless policy generally, and specifically recent language in a Senate bill that would let the federal govt. preempt states on most telecom regulatory issues, will be the main policy issue CTIA hopes to raise at the meeting. An official said the meeting’s timing made it “almost impossible” to get lawmakers to attend, but stressed the need for member “education” on big issues.
The FCC is looking for ways to spur greater use of 700 MHz guard bands. Sources said Mon. the proposal, released late Fri., is potentially significant because it could provide more spectrum for public safety and for carriers to offer wireless broadband. The FCC is also seeking comment on proposals for the best use of guard band licenses returned to the FCC by Nextel.
T-Mobile and Verizon Wireless are poised to pick up chunks of spectrum that could prove valuable to their overall portfolios, based on bidding in the AWS auction, which is entering late stages, analysts and other observers said. To a lesser extent, so too are Cingular, Leap and MetroPCS, they said. In the auction’s late stages, bids totaled $13.8 billion late Fri.
Council Tree, Bethel Native Corp. and Minority Media & Telecom Council want the 3rd U.S. Appeals Court, Philadelphia, to toss out the AWS auction, they said in a pleading. Rules approved pre-auction effectively killed participation by them and other designated entities, they said. Among provisionally winning bids, only 4% have been by DEs’, they told the court.