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FCC 700 mhz Auction Ends, Fun Begins
After 261 rounds of bidding, the Federal Communication Commission’s auction for the highly coveted 700 mhz band came to a close yesterday, raking in nearly $19.6 billion dollars for the government, almost double the $10 billion in revenue estimated by Congress. The money will be used to support the public transition to digital television, along with public safety initiatives. Science Progress explained the basics of the auction when it began in January in a “Wireless Spectrum Auction 101.”
Announcement of the winners may be delayed until the FCC and Congress decide what to do with the D-Block license which failed to sell, receiving only a $472 million offer, well short of the $1.3 billion reserve price. The D-block license is for a wireless network that covers the entire nation, and includes a requirement for the creation of a public/private partnership to build a national emergency response network. House Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet Chairman Edward Markey (D-MA) promised to hold a hearing to discuss how the D-block rules must be revised for a second auction. FCC Chairman Kevin Martin hinted at the possibility of separating the D-block from the rest of the auction so that winners can be announced.
Bidding on the sought-after C-block reached $4.75 billion, exceeding the $4.6 billion reserve bid and thus triggering a provision requiring the auction winners to provide open access to the network. Google lobbied the FCC to include open access rules to this group of licenses, offering to meet the minimum reserve to guarantee the network sold with the attached condition.
Things will only get more interesting in the coming weeks and months: auction winners will be allowed to negotiate with losing bidders and partners over the licenses. How the winners of C-block licenses choose to define “openness” may also prove to be a prickly situation.
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