Bidders Locked For Auction 58
Jan 12, 2005, 2:42 PM by (staff)
The FCC yesterday announced the final list of qualified bidders for Auction 58, the upcoming sale of PCS spectrum. On the block are 242 licenses in the 1900 MHz band that were previously held by bankrupt Nextwave Telecom. The auction starts January 26th and ends whenever companies stop bidding. 119 of the licenses are set aside for "designated entities", a category designed to allow smaller companies to compete for licenses. However, most of the major carriers, including Verizon, T-Mobile, Sprint, and Cingular, have partnered with a "designated entity" to allow them to bid for such licenses essentially by proxy. Verizon and T-Mobile are expected to be the most aggressive bidders, as both need spectrum to expand or build 3G networks.
Comments
Let the Bidding Begin
Location of Spectrum...
Wed Jan 12, 2005 03:02 AM ET
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -
...
The airwaves being auctioned cover major cities such as Los Angeles, Denver and Orlando as well as smaller markets like McAllen, Texas, and Lynchburg, Virginia.
The licenses to be auctioned were once held by now-bankrupt NextWave Telecom Inc. It agreed to return them to the FCC as part of a settlement over money that NextWave owed for the licenses, which it won at auctions in the late 1990s.
~Steve