Top 3 Cable firms offer $2.3 billion for Airwaves

TOP 3 CABLE FIRMS OFFER $2.3 BILLION FOR AIRWAVES
[SOURCE: Bloomberg News, AUTHOR: Molly Patterson & Christopher Stern]
The three largest U.S. cable operators have offered more than $2.3 billion for airwaves in the Federal Communications Commission's current auction, a slice big enough to create a new national wireless network. SpectrumCo LLC, 52 percent of which is owned by Comcast Corp., the largest U.S. cable company, has made the top offers for 132 of the licenses being sold by the FCC, including ones in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago. Overall, bids for 1,122 licenses totaled $13.7 billion after Thursday's 70th round. The Comcast-led group is poised to capture airwaves covering about 265 million people, or 89 percent of the U.S. population. Winning the licenses would allow its members, which include Time Warner and Cox Communications, to build their own wireless network. Another member, Sprint Nextel, has a separate agreement to provide wireless services to cable-company customers. The Sprint-cable partnership was third in total bidding in Thursday's most recent round, after T-Mobile USA Inc.'s $4.15 billion and Verizon Wireless's $2.8 billion. With offers for the largest swaths of spectrum unchallenged for a week or more, participants are now battling for airwaves in midsize cities.
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