Spectrum Auction Is Finally Over; We Still Don’t Know Who Won
By Tricia Duryee - Tue 18 Mar 2008 03:20 PM PST
The FCC spectrum auction that has received a ton of attention ended this afternoon after two months and 23 days, but it will remain a mystery for a little bit longer as to which companies placed the $19.6 billion in bids. The FCC said it would not reveal who placed the bids because of anti-competitive behavior, reports PCMag.com. Analysts expect those restrictions to lift by the end of the month, or early April.
The auction ended when no bids were placed in the 261st round. Results can be found here.
The auction has received so much attention because of the big names participating, such as Google (NSDQ: GOOG), AT&T (NYSE: T) and Verizon (NYSE: VZ). Google, along with other companies, lobbied for the winning bidders of the C-block to be required to create an open-access network that would allow any device or application to run on it. That block was sold for about $6.5 billion. The D-block, which also had controversial requirements stating that the owner must reserve a portion for public safety, never reached its reserve price. The FCC may choose to re-auction that portion of the spectrum.
With limited spectrum available in the U.S., all airwaves are largely assumed to be valuable, but this swath in particular is expected to work well for next generation high-speed networks.
Posted in: Legal, Regulatory
Tags: 700 mhz
