Putting Auction 97 in the History Books

The bidding in Auction 97 -- the AWS-3 auction -- has concluded. There will be a lot of discussion about the results over the days, weeks and months ahead, and rightly so – this was an historic auction. Although winning bidders must still make payments and submit applications prior to the grant of licenses, by any measure it’s safe to say that the auction was an overwhelming success. Based on the information available at this time, here are the highlights:

• 65 megahertz of spectrum made available to meet the Nation’s demand for wireless broadband;
• $7 billion to fund the Nation’s first nationwide broadband public safety network;
• $300 million for public safety communications research;
• $115 million in grants for 911, E911, and NextGen 911 implementation;
• More than $20 billion for deficit reduction; and
• Funding for relocating Federal systems.