The Federal Communications Commission released the names of 266 “short-form” applicants for the 700 MHz spectrum auction scheduled to start Jan. 24. (Pdfs of the lists here and here.) Among the names: Vulcan Spectrum LLC with Paul Allen, majority owner of Charter (NSDQ: CHTR) Communications; AT&T (NYSE: T) Mobility Spectrum LLC; Google; Advance/Newhouse Partnership; Cox Wireless; MetroPCS; Qualcomm; Verizon (NYSE: VZ) Wireless. Reuters has done some digging—finding Allen but, so far, no signs of EchoStar.

-- The upfront payment date has been extended to Jan. 4; 96 of the applications have been accepted for filing, 170 are incomplete.

Carlo adds: EchoStar (NSDQ: DISH) will bid through an entity called Frontier Wireless, Tech Trader Daily reports. It also adds that National Datacast, which is about 89 percent owned by a for-profit arm of PBS and 10 percent owned by Gemstar-TV Guide, has also registered to bid. Several of the companies that have registered to bid in this auction also registered to bid in the 2006 AWS auction for licenses in the 1700 and 2100 MHz bands, but either never made serious attempts to win licenses, or dropped out very quickly. Similar things will happen here—the 700 MHz spectrum is too valuable for the auction to offer up any bargains for small or uncommitted bidders.

WSJ: “Mexican telecom billionaire Carlos Slim Helu and money manager Mario Gabelli are among the deep-pocketed investors backing firms hoping to bid.”

• The Players In The 700 MHz Auction