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Airwaves auction hits $18bn
But D block still lagging

By Reuters

Published: Monday 04 February 2008

Bidding reached $18.55bn at the end of last week in the US Federal Communications Commission's record-setting auction of government-owned wireless airwaves - but there were no new offers for two large, closely watched slices of spectrum.

Wireless from A to Z

Click on the links below to find out more…

A is for Antivirus
B is for Bluetooth
C is for The Cloud
D is for dotMobi
E is for Email
F is for FMC
G is for GPS
H is for HSDPA
I is for i-mode
J is for Japan Air
K is for Korea
L is for LBS
M is for M2M
N is for NFC
O is for Operating systems
P is for Pubs
Q is for QoS
R is for Roaming
S is for Satellite
T is for TV
U is for UMTS
V is for Virgin
W is for WiMax
X is for XDA
Y is for Yucca
Z is for Zigbee

The total bidding, which covers five separate blocks of spectrum in the auction, was up from $15.64bn on Thursday.

There were no new bids on a major slice of the airwaves, known as the "C" block, which will have to be made accessible using any device or software application, under FCC rules. A bid of $4.71bn, made on Thursday morning remains the top offer.

Nor were there any new bids Friday on a nationwide piece of the spectrum, known as the "D" block, which must be shared with public safety agencies under auction rules set by the agency. A bid of $472m from the week before still stands.

The lone $472m bid for the D block spectrum, which came in the first round of the auction, is far below the $1.3bn minimum price set by the FCC. If bidding fails to reach the minimum, the FCC will have to decide whether to reauction the D block or possibly modify the network-sharing requirement.

The open-access condition on the C-block spectrum is important because US wireless carriers have traditionally restricted the models of mobile phones that can be used on their networks and limited the software that can be downloaded onto them, such as ring tones, music or web browser software.

But AT&T and Verizon began moving away from that restrictive stance in recent months.

The FCC is keeping bidders' identities secret until the entire auction ends. But analysts say Google and Verizon Wireless are the most likely bidders for the C block.

The 700MHz signals are valuable because they can go long distances and penetrate thick walls. The airwaves are being returned by television broadcasters as they move to digital from analogue signals in early 2009.

In addition to the C and D blocks, the other spectrum includes more local chunks set aside in blocks designated "A" and "B". The final, "E" block, is considered less useful because it is limited to one-way data transmission.

The electronic auction will end when no more bids are submitted.