The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has started the auction for the 700MHz spectrum. There are major players like Google, Alltel, AT&T, Verizon Wireless, Cox Wireless, Cablevision, Echostar, and Qualcomm approved for auction participation. The bids for the first round raised at $2.4 billion with 1,849 bids placed. The second round of auctioning has decreased at 1,122 bids, but the total amount has reached almost $2.8 billion.
The auction for the 700MHz band is extremely important for the bidders because it will be introduced in 2009, once the televisions will shift from analog to digital signals. Currently the 700MHz band is used by analog television signals. It is si valuable because its property to penetrate the walls. Thus, this new band will provide new opportunities for the future technologies like broadband communications and public-safety services. Also this band offers a large coverage in comparison with 1900MHz bands.
The FCC has auctioned off access to five blocks of that spectrum. They have allocated the D-block for public-safety communications. The bids for D-block have reached $472,042,000 in the first round and remained unchanged in the second. In the other blocks, the largest bid was just over $1 billion for a package of licenses for all 50 states. The auctioning will continue, but I will come back with details regarding the winners. Stay close!
via Gearlog
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