Incumbents To Sweep Spectrum Auction, Analysts Say

INCUMBENTS TO SWEEP SPECTRUM AUCTION, ANALYSTS SAY
[SOURCE: DowJones, AUTHOR: Timothy Hay]
Next week's auction by the Federal Communications Commission of 700 megahertz of radio spectrum - billed by many as a David versus Goliath match between independent wireless providers and more established incumbent companies - is expected to end with a sweep by the larger companies. Called the "beachfront property" of the broadband world, the 700MHz spectrum is coveted because of its extended reach and ability to penetrate buildings and mountains for uninterrupted coverage. The federal government is expecting to raise between $10 billion and $15 billion in the auction, which will be the last FCC sale of significant bandwidth for the foreseeable future. For this reason, the carriers among the 214 qualified bidders that come out with the most spectrum will set the rules of the game for how broadband wireless is delivered for years to come. By all accounts, much is at stake in the Jan. 24 auction. And the names that consumers already know -- like AT&T and Verizon Communications -- are likely to be the names at the top of the winners list, analysts say.
http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/djf500/200801181849DOWJONES...

* Airwaves, Web Power at Auction
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Stephen Labaton]
The auction for rights to a highly valuable swath of the nation’s airwaves will begin Thursday and is expected to include multibillion-dollar bids from the nation’s two biggest wireless phone companies, Verizon and AT&T, as well as Google. Each day, the commission will post the leading bids, but only the amount bid, not the names of the leading bidders. The auction’s daily bids can be watched on the Web site, auctions.fcc.gov.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/22/business/22spectrum.html?ref=todayspap...
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