March Madness Hits FCC Auction Results

AT&T and Verizon, the country's two largest cell phone companies, dominated bidding in a record-setting government airwaves auction. They combined to account for $16 billion of the $19.6 billion bid in the Federal Communications Commission latest auction of valuable spectrum. Verizon Wireless bid $9.4 billion and AT&T $6.6 billion. The third leading bidder was Qualcomm Inc., which pledged $1 billion. The results raised concern that the auction failed to attract any new competitors to the cellular telephone market to challenge the dominant companies. Multichannel News repots that women-owned bidders failed to win any licenses and minority-owned bidders won less 1% of licenses.
* AT&T, Verizon Win at Airwaves Auction
http://ca.biz.yahoo.com/ap/080320/airwaves_auction_winners.html?.v=1
* Verizon Wireless wins large chunk of 700MHz spectrum
Verizon was the winning bidder in the 22MHz band of spectrum called the C block in the FCC's 700MHz auction. The company bid $4.7 billion for the spectrum, which covers nearly all of the United States. The FCC put so-called open-access provisions on the C block, meaning Verizon must allow outside devices such as mobile handsets from other carriers and must allow users to run outside applications on the network. Verizon originally filed a lawsuit against the FCC's open-access rules, but dropped out while trade group the CTIA continued with the lawsuit. Google, which had expressed interest in the C block, did not win any of the C-block licenses.
http://www.infoworld.com/article/08/03/20/Verizon-Wireless-wins-huge-block-of-700MHz-spectrum_1.html
* Verizon and AT&T dominate airwaves auction
"It means that the two big guys just got much bigger," said Rebecca Arbogast, an analyst with Stifel Nicolaus.
http://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSN2042023420080320
* Google affects FCC auction without spending big
[Commentary] Even without coming through with any winning bids for any of the wireless spectrum, Google managed to have an impact on the auction process. While Google did not end up with any spectrum, its moves had an effect. Verizon bid on the C block of spectrum, which by FCC rules is now required to be open to devices and applications not necessarily approved or sold by owners of the spectrum. This could be the first significant opening up of wireless networks. Let's see how this plays out.
http://www.marketwatch.com/enf/rss.asp?guid=%7B7603135A-61E5-49DD-AD1B-4DDEB3A3A778%7D&siteid=rss&rss=1
* EchoStar, Cox Among 700-MHz Auction Winners
EchoStar won sizable amounts of spectrum in the government’s 700-Megahertz wireless spectrum auction – and Cox Communications emerged as the largest winning cable entity. EchoStar won 168 licenses in the E block, spectrum covering most of the United States, for a total of $711 million. Cox, which was bidding as Cox Wireless, will pay $304.6 million for 22 licenses, in the A and B blocks, in California, Virginia, Georgia, Florida, Louisiana, Arkansas, Kansas and Oklahoma. Cox’s largest single winning bid was $84.1 million for an A-block license in San Diego. Paul Allen’s Vulcan Ventures secured two A Block licenses, in the Pacific Northwest, for $112 million. Analyst firm Stifel, Nicolaus & Co. predicted that spectrum will overlap with his cable holdings. Comcast and Time Warner Cable did not participate in the auction. Cablevision Systems registered to bid but did not win any licenses. BendBroadband won a license in the B block in Oregon for $6.7 million.
http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6543745.html?nid=4262
* FCC Public Notice
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-08-595A1.doc
* Winning bidders
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-08-595A2.pdf
* FCC Chairman Kevin Martin: "A bidder other than a nationwide incumbent won a license in every market. As a result of the 700 MHz Auction, there is the potential for an additional wireless 'third-pipe" in every market across the nation. Additionally, 99 bidders, other than the nationwide wireless incumbents, won 754 licenses - representing approximately 69 percent of the 1090 licenses sold in the 700 MHz auction. The Auction therefore drew wide-ranging interest from a number of new players. For example, Frontier Wireless LLC (EchoStar), which is widely viewed as a new entrant, won 168 licenses in the E block to establish a near nationwide footprint for its services for consumers."
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-280968A1.doc
* Commissioner Adelstein: "It's appalling that women and minorities were virtually shut out of this monumental auction. It's an outrage that we've failed to counter the legacy of discrimination that has kept women and minorities from owning their fair share of the spectrum. Here we had an enormous opportunity to open the airwaves to a new generation that reflects the diversity of America, and instead we just made a bad situation even worse. This gives whole new meaning to "white spaces" in the spectrum."
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-280973A1.doc
* AT&T, Verizon In Airwaves Grab; A Win for Google?
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120603843805652459.html?mod=todays_us_marketplace
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* FCC Names Winners of Wireless Auction
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/20/AR2008032002140.html
* Verizon Wireless, AT&T win big in airwave auction
http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/money/20080321/fccauction21.art.htm
* Verizon, AT&T win big in airwave auction
http://www.latimes.com/business/printedition/la-fi-airwaves21mar21,1,6349273.story
* Auction takes 'first step' to open-access wireless
http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_8648269
* FCC Auction: 'The Big Get Bigger'
http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/mar2008/tc20080320_680397.htm?campaign_id=rss_tech
* Google's wireless-auction loss called possible win
http://www.reuters.com/article/internetNews/idUSN2022757820080321
* Verizon and AT&T Win Big in Auction of Spectrum
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/21/technology/21auction.html?ref=todayspaper
* FCC: Spectrum Auction Expanded Wireless Competition
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6543752.html?desc=topstory
* Verizon wins 'open access' licenses in FCC auction
http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9899829-7.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-5
* Verizon Wireless wins bids on 'open' spectrum
http://www.marketwatch.com/enf/rss.asp?guid=%7BDE7234BA-A8EC-4108-BDD7-DF54F9355AC8%7D&siteid=rss