Sep. 19, 2006

The AWS (advanced wireless services) spectrum auction, also known as Auction 66, closed yesterday, with bidders putting up a total of nearly $14 billion.

The 28-day-long auction ended after 161 rounds, with 104 of the 168 registered bidders winning at least one license.

All but 35 of the total 1,122 licenses up for grabs received bids.

Top 10 Highest Bidders Overall

1. T-Mobile $4.2 billion
2. Verizon Wireless $2.8 billion
3. SpectrumCo $2.4 billion
4. MetroPCS $1.4 billion
5. Cingular $1.3 billion
6. Cricket $710 million
7. Denali Spectrum $274 million
8. Barat Wireless $127 million
9. AWS Wireless $116 million
10. Atlantic Wireless $81 million

T-Mobile USA Inc. was the big spender of the auction, winning 120 licenses with bids totaling nearly $4.2 billion.

The fourth-largest U.S. carrier gained spectrum across the country, including licenses in the large markets of New York, Los Angeles and Chicago. As soon as the auction closed, T-Mobile USA put out a statement saying that it will not immediately reveal its plans for the spectrum.

“The company will share more information after the conclusion of the FCC quiet period,” T-Mobile USA said in its statement.

The carrier is expected to use the spectrum to build out a next-generation network to compete with its larger rivals.

Smaller, flat-rate carriers Leap Wireless International Inc. and MetroPCS Communications Inc. also left the auction laden with new spectrum.

Leap won 99 new licenses covering a population of 118 million people, for which it paid $710 million. Leap-backed Denali Spectrum License L.L.C. won one Great Lakes regional license covering about 58 million people, with a bid total of $365 million. MetroPCS, meanwhile, spent $1.4 billion on eight spectrum licenses, but those licenses cover more than 144 million people.

Sprint Nextel Corp.’s joint venture with several cable companies came away with spectrum covering 267 million potential customers and won the second-highest number of licenses in the auction: 137 licenses with a total price tag of about $2.4 billion.

Only NextWave Telecom Inc.-backed AWS Wireless Inc. won more individual licenses, with a final tally of 154 licenses for $115.5 million—though they cover a relatively small 60 million pops.

Other wireless winners included:

1) Verizon Wireless, which gained 13 licenses at a total cost of $2.8 billion. The carrier gained 20 megahertz of spectrum covering the U.S. east of the Mississippi River, plus additional licenses in Louisiana, Hawaii and Arkansas.

2) Cingular Wireless L.L.C. spent $1.3 billion for 48 licenses around the country, including regional licenses in the West and Central United States, plus spectrum in markets such as Los Angeles, Phoenix, Denver, Boston, Dallas-Ft. Worth and Atlanta.

3) Dobson Communications Corp. bid $65.9 million on 85 licenses.

4) Barat Wireless L.P., which was backed by U.S. Cellular Corp., won 17 licenses with an overall price tag of about $170 million. The company bought spectrum in markets such as Tulsa, Okla.; Milwaukee; St. Louis; and a regional Mississippi Valley license.

Source: RCR News