[opendtv] News: 700-MHz Spectrum Auction Comes to a Close
- From: Craig Birkmaier <craig@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: OpenDTV Mail List <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 20 Mar 2008 08:45:55 -0400
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6542388.html?display=Breaking+News&referral=SUPP&nid=2228
700-MHz Spectrum Auction Comes to a Close
FCC Announces More than $19B in Proceeds
By Glen Dickson -- Broadcasting & Cable, 3/19/2008 10:15:00 AM
The Federal Communications Commission closed its auction of broadcast
spectrum that is being reclaimed from TV stations as part of the
digital-TV transition and announced that it netted the federal
government a record $19.592 billion in proceeds.
The auction of 700-megahertz spectrum, officially known as Auction
73, began Jan. 24 and went through 261 rounds of bidding. While the
FCC hasn't yet published its official list of auction winners,
companies such as AT&T, Verizon Communications and Google
participated.
The 700-MHz spectrum, which currently supports UHF broadcast signals,
is viewed as highly desirable for launching new wireless services
because of its excellent signal-propagation characteristics and the
ability to achieve a wide range of coverage from relatively few
transmission towers. That explains why the revenue from Auction 73
far exceeded other FCC auctions. In comparison, the 2006 Advanced
Wireless Service-1 (AWS-1) Auction raised $13.9 billion.
The $19.592 billion generated by the auction -- which will be used to
support public-safety and DTV initiatives -- almost doubled initial
estimates by Congress of some $10.2 billion. The FCC noted that all
other 68 auctions it conducted in the past 15 years collectively
generated a total of $19.1 billion.
In a statement, FCC chairman Kevin Martin hailed the 700-MHz auction
as a significant success for the country's broadband-policy
initiatives.
"This auction provided an opportunity to have a significant effect on
the next phase of wireless-broadband innovation," Martin said. "With
the open-platform requirements on one-third of the spectrum,
consumers will be able to use the wireless device of their choice on
those networks and download whatever software or applications they
want on it. The open platform will help to foster innovation on the
edge of the network, while creating more choices and greater freedom
for consumers to use the wireless devices and applications of their
choice."
In speaking about the open-platform requirements, Martin was
referring to the so-called C-block of spectrum. Google successfully
lobbied the FCC to make sure that whomever wins the C-block portion
of the spectrum (at a reserve price of $4.6 billion) will allow open
software applications to be downloaded to mobile devices and that
consumers will be able to use mobile devices of their choice to
access the spectrum -- part of the search giant's effort to extend
its technology to devices beyond the PC.
The only hiccup for the FCC in Auction 73 was the D-block, a portion
of the spectrum that was intended to be used primarily for
public-safety applications and shared by private companies and
public-safety organizations. While several players including
Frontline Wireless, a concern headed by former FCC chairman Reed
Hundt, expressed initial interest in bidding on the D-block, no
company stepped up to meet the minimum reserve price of $1.3 billion
for the spectrum.
Martin said the FCC "remains committed to ensuring that we work to
solve public safety's interoperability challenges," and it is
evaluating other options for the spectrum.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
You can UNSUBSCRIBE from the OpenDTV list in two ways:
- Using the UNSUBSCRIBE command in your user configuration settings at FreeLists.org
- By sending a message to: opendtv-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the word
unsubscribe in the subject line.
Other related posts:
- » [opendtv] News: 700-MHz Spectrum Auction Comes to a Close
