DBS, Cable Heavy Wireless Bidders
By Karen Brown -- Multichannel News, 8/11/2006 11:45:00 AM
Direct-broadcast satellite and cable operators were among the leading bidders as competition began for a major chunk of broadband-wireless spectrum at the Federal Communications Commission.
In all, 1,222 advanced-wireless-spectrum licenses are up for grabs during the auction, which will be staged ongoing rounds. The auction will close only when no more bids are submitted, so there is no telling how long the process will take.
As of press time Friday, more than $1.4 billion in bids through the first five rounds had been submitted for the spectrum.
The bandwidth consists of 10-megahertz or 20-MHz chunks in two frequency bands -- one between 1,710-1,755 MHz and the other between 2,110-2,155 MHz. The 15-year licenses can be used for fixed- or mobile-broadband applications, including broadband cellular services.
From those preliminary results, Wireless DBS -- a coalition that includes EchoStar Communications and DirecTV -- had ponied up the most cash among competitors so far, with 12 bids in unnamed markets totaling more than $352 million. But that was only a “provisionally winning bid,” meaning that other bidders now have the option to up the ante as the auction continues.
The second highest bidder was T-Mobile, the German wireless-telecommunications player. In third place was SpectrumCO, the coalition of cable operators Time Warner Cable, Comcast, Cox Communications and Bright House Networks aligned with Sprint Nextel. That coalition had submitted four bids totaling more than $212 million.
Also on the list of top bidders is Dolan Family Holdings, which represents Cablevision Systems’ owners. As of Friday, it had submitted bids for nearly $50 million on licenses.
The market receiving the highest license bids as of Friday was, not surprisingly, New York, where the satellite coalition submitted a $27 million bid for one license covering a sizable chunk of the city, plus Long Island, Connecticut and New Jersey. The second-highest license bid was submitted by Dolan Family Holdings for $21.5 million.
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