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Jan. 27, 2008

Overall, bids totaled a little over $2.77 billion after the close of the second round of bidding in the 700 MHz FCC auction on January 24.

The Federal Communications Commission said the value increased about 14.9 percent from the first round of bidding that opened Jan. 23.

However, names of the top bidders won't be released until the end of the auction, which could take up to a month or so to complete.

The FCC said it will post the highest bids for each portion of the spectrum on its site following the end of each bidding round.

For the C-block, the largest and thought to be the most valuable slice of spectrum up for grabs, the winning bid was $1.24 billion. The FCC has set $4.6 billion as the minimum bid for the C-block, which includes an "open access" clause that would require the winning bidder to allow any device and any application to run on its network.

Should the $4.6 billion minimum not be met, the FCC has said it will re-auction the swath without the open access restriction. This method should help ease the bidding process it said.

The FCC also received a bid for $472 million for the slice of airwaves known as the D-block, a section set aside for a national public safety network.

The minimum bid set for the D-block is $1.3 billion, though the most obviously interested party for the D-block, startup Frontline Wireless, recently dropped out of the auction and closed up business.

FCC Chairman Kevin Martin has said that he is still optimistic that a new bidder will emerge to build a national public safety network for emergency first responders, but didn't offer to say more.

Google, which lobbied for the open access provision, has pledged to bid at least $4.6 billion for the C-block. However, some analysts speculate that either AT&T or Verizon Wireless will actually walk away with the license.

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Source: The Federal Communications Commission

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