WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Top bidders put up a total of more than $2.4 billionon Thursday in the opening round of the Federal Communications Commission’sauction of coveted U.S. government-owned airwaves.
The figure represents the highest bids received for five separate blocks ofspectrum at the beginning of the auction, which is eventually expected to netthe federal government at least $10 billion.
Companies qualified to bid include major carriers AT&T Inc and Verizon Wireless, aswell as possible new competitors like Internet company Google Inc, EchoStarCommunications Corp and CablevisionSystems Corp.
Identities of bidders will be kept secret until the entire auction ends underFCC rules.
Analysts say the major carriers could use the new spectrum to offer consumersmore advanced services such as broadband access via mobile phones and wirelessbroadband to laptop computers.
Verizon Wireless is a joint venture of Verizon Communications Inc and Vodafone Group Plc.
The $2.4 billion worth of opening high bids included a $472 million offer fora closely watched block of spectrum, known as the "D" block, which will have tobe shared with public safety agencies under FCC rules.
It also included an opening high bid of $1.04 billion for the sought-after"C" block, which carries another condition requiring that it be open to alldevices and software applications.
The FCC issued results of the first round of bidding for the government-ownedspectrum shortly after the round ended at noon.
The FCC has set minimum prices of $1.3 billion and $4.7 billion for the D andC blocks respectively. These blocks could be used to create a nationalnetwork.
Other spectrum includes local chunks set aside in blocks designated "A" and"B". The final, "E" block, is considered less useful because it is limited toone-way data transmission.
The 700-megahertz signals are valuable because they can go long distances andpenetrate thick walls. The airwaves are being returned by televisionbroadcasters as they move to digital from analog signals in early 2009.
The electronic auction is expected to continue for weeks or even months andwill end when no more bids are submitted. The FCC plans to hold multiple roundsof back-and-forth bidding each day on each of five blocks of spectrum availablefor sale.
A second round on Thursday is scheduled to go from 2:30 p.m. to4:30 p.m.
Results from each round are made publicly available on the FCC’s Web siteabout 10 minutes afterward.
Starting on Friday, the FCC is scheduled to hold three rounds of bidding eachday until further notice. Bidding typically accelerates as the auctionprogresses.
(Editing by Tim Dobbyn)
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