FCC Extends Auction-Payment Deadline
By John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable, 12/19/2007 8:36:00 AM
The Federal Communications Commission gave bidders in its upcoming spectrum auction another week to make their upfront payments, correct their applications and qualify to participate in the Jan. 24 auction of 700 megahertz of spectrum being reclaimed from broadcasters in the switch to digital.
Frontline Wireless, which is hoping to get a swath of spectrum to create a public-private wireless network that it will share with first-responders, asked for the extention from Dec. 28, citing the holidays, and the FCC complied, moving the date to Jan. 4.
The FCC said 266 applications were filed but only 96 were complete and accepted for filing. Those only need to make their payments by Jan. 4 to be eligible. The rest -- 170 of them -- will get letters from the commission spelling out their deficiences. Those corrected applications must be resubmitted along with payment by Jan. 4.
Google's application was in order, but among those that still needed work were AT&T, Alltell, Cox Wireless and Qualcomm.
The spectrum is considered beachfront property for advanced wireless services because it is less susceptible to interference from objects in the environment.
