700Mhz Auction Finished FCC boss congratulates self for a job well done Tipped by wvcaver 
After netting nearly twenty billion dollars in 270 rounds of bidding, the FCC yesterday officially stated that the 700Mhz spectrum auction is over. According to a statement (pdf) by FCC chief Kevin Martin, the auction took in almost twice the amount estimated. Specific winner details won't be released for another week or two, according to the commission. Martin takes a moment to pat himself on the back for a job well done: I proposed changes to the technical rules that helped make this auction a record success. We implemented anonymous bidding and package bidding for the first time in an auction of this size. This change increased the efficiency of the auction. Lots has been made of Google's effort to ensure that the C-Block auction winner has to create a device-agnostic network, but as we've discussed previously, the conditions have plenty of loopholes for the smart attorneys at Verizon or AT&T to wiggle through. Whether the auction results in any substantive new services for broadband users remains to be seen. Some debate continues over the D block auction, which failed to net the minimum reserve bid.
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 axus
join:2001-06-18
Washington, DC | Who won? I looked on their website, couldn't find it though. Interesting that the license for Mississippi Valley went for $1,625,930,000, I didn't think they were the most valuable block in the nation ;p | |
|  |  BF69Premium
join:2004-07-28
Camden, TN | Re: Who won? said by axus:I looked on their website, couldn't find it though. Interesting that the license for Mississippi Valley went for $1,625,930,000, I didn't think they were the most valuable block in the nation ;p They'll release that info soon just not yet. | |
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| | | | Re: New services???? ooooo the FCC can get 20 billion dollars but can't deny or approve the XM Sirius merger. | |
| | |  53059959Temp banned from BBR more then anyone
join:2002-10-02
PwnZone | Re: New services???? i'm sure if someone from sirius or xm bribed the fcc with 20 billion dollars, they couldn't be merged fast enough. | |
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| | Will be interesting to see who won the C-Block The article states that there are loopholes for the likes of AT&T and Verizon, but seeing that bidding abruptly ended after the $4.6B threshold was met, I'm wondering if Google may have gotten stuck with the winning bid. I know a lot of people have been hoping for that to be the case, but if true, would that really be in Google's best interest? Even with their warchest of cash, could they build-out a network quick enough to meet the requirements? | |
| | Sammer
join:2005-12-22
Canonsburg, PA
2 edits | Re: Will be interesting to see who won the C-Block Speculation is that there were only two bidders for the 50 state package of the C block; Google who probably just wanted to meet the reserve and Verizon Wireless. There were additional bids for the individual REAGs after the reserve was met. The high price for the Mississippi Valley may reflect that someone (perhaps AT&T) didn't want anyone winning all eight REAGs of the package. | |
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| | Congrats to QVC and the 700 club They will be sharing this new spectrum with a successful joint bid. Qvc and the 700 club will immediately use the prized airwaves for their new religous & sales programming.
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The bidding system has once again proved successful. The person with the most money will get the prize and screw the users. Government gets a nice dime which will help fund the NEA. | |
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