Spectrum Auction Update: 1,030 Bidders, $3.03B After Three Rounds
Auction Must Raise at Least $10B for Federal Treasury, Programs Including DTV-to-Analog Converter-Box Coupons
By John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable, 1/25/2008 8:05:00 AM
After three rounds of bidding, 1,030 bidders ponied up $3.03 billion for five blocks of beachfront spectrum being reclaimed from analog-TV broadcasters in the switch to digital.
The bidding is anonymous, but a new minimum bid of $1.493 billion was placed on the package of licenses covering 50 states (the so-called C block) that companies like Google are eyeing for a possible new network that could deliver wireless Internet.
The eventual winner in what is likely a weeks-long auction will have to bid at least $4.6 billion or the spectrum will be reauctioned without its current open-access conditions.
That's because the auction has to raise at least $10 billion for the federal treasury and programs including paying for the digital-TV-to-analog converter-box coupons.
There have been three bids so far on a package of C-block licenses sufficient for a nationwide network -- the first for $1.037 billion and the second for $1.244 billion, which was where it stood Friday morning. The minimum bid for that block in the third round will be $1.493 billion.
The D block -- a nationwide footprint for a public-private network shared with first-responders -- had drawn one bid of $472 million. The minimum bid for round three was $531 million.
There was still only one bidder for another nationwide swatch of spectrum that could also be used for a national advanced wireless network but one that would have to be shared with first-responders when they needed it. That bidder -- all bidding is anonymous -- did not raise its bid from round two's $472 million. But the Federal Communications Commission lowered the minimum bid on that block for round four -- scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. -- from $531 million to $525 million.
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Actually there were 1,030 BIDS, not bidders -- only 214 bidders even
qualified for the auction. Because it is "anonymous" bidding you have no
way to tell how many bidders actually placed bids, but it is certainly under
214. In fact, given that at least one bidder placed a "proactive waiver"
which exempts you from having to bid in a round we know the number
was even less than 214.
Brett Tarnutzer - 1/25/2008 2:32:00 PM EST
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