[1st-mile-nm] 700 MHz Auction Results

[Richard Lowenberg]

700 MHz Results: Usual Suspects with a Twist
21 Mar, 2008

www.telecompetitor.com/node/569

The FCC released results from the 700 MHZ auction and it looks like the
pre-release consensus was right. Verizon Wireless and AT&T were the big
winners, with Verizon gaining a national 700 MHz footprint. They both bid a
combined $16.3 billion, with AT&T bidding $6.64 billion for 227 B-block
licenses and Verizon Wireless bidding $9.63 billion for the large C-block
regional licenses. An additional 99 bidders won 754 licenses, including
familiar names like Echostar (DISH Networks) and Cox. The outcome of the
auction did not produce a viable national wireless competitor, as many had
hoped, but there are some interesting twists.

Echostar bid $711 million for 168 E-block licenses, which covers a large portion
of the U.S. Cox bid close to $305 million for 22 licenses in the A and B blocks.
Their licenses will include areas of California, Virginia, Georgia, Florida,
Louisiana, Arkansas, Kansas and Oklahoma. These two winners will probably be
the most interesting to watch from a competitive angle. Echostar now has a
conceivable way to offer broadband, although speculation is that they have
their eyes on mobile video, which the E-block spectrum is much better suited
for. Among smaller service providers, CenturyTel won 69 B-block licenses for
$149 million, raising the potential for CenturyTel to launch its own wireless
service. Several tier 3 carriers won licenses including Horry Telephone of
South Carolina, Pioneer Telephone in Oklahoma, and * PVT Networks in New
Mexico. While the auction failed to bring a competitor to the national stage,
and may have fallen somewhat short from an overall competitive standpoint, it
did empower several entrants into the wireless space. Time will tell whether
those entrants can actually have a competitive impact in their respective
territories, but it will be interesting to observe over the coming months and
years.

* PVT Networks (Penasco Valley Telecommunications) www.pvt.com


-- 
Richard Lowenberg
1st-Mile Institute
P.O. Box 8001, Santa Fe, NM 87504
505-989-9110;   505-603-5200 cell
rl at 1st-mile.com  www.1st-mile.com

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