FCC Auction 66 for Advanced Wireless Service Underway

Bidding got underway last week in the opening round in FCC Auction 66 for Advanced Wireless Service (AWS) licenses in the 1.7 and 2.1 GHz bands. The list of "Top 10 Bidders by Net Provisionally Winning Bids" showed T-Mobile License LLC, Dolan Family Holdings LLC, SpectrumCo LLC, Cricket License (Reauction) Inc., and

Author:: TVTechnology
Publish date:: Aug 16, 2006
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Bidding got underway last week in the opening round in FCC Auction 66 for Advanced Wireless Service (AWS) licenses in the 1.7 and 2.1 GHz bands.

The list of "Top 10 Bidders by Net Provisionally Winning Bids" showed T-Mobile License LLC, Dolan Family Holdings LLC, SpectrumCo LLC, Cricket License (Reauction) Inc., and MetroPCS AWS LLC as the top five bidders. The T-Mobile PWBs totaling over $1.1 billion would give it 31 licenses reaching 399,233,443 people. The next three bidders PWBs totaled over $200 million each, with the MetroPCS bids coming in at just over $178 million.

Follow what some commentators have called the biggest FCC spectrum auction since cellular on the FCC Auction 66 Web site. The Web site has complete information on the auction, including current auction results.

For a short, easy-to-read summary of the AWS rules for the service and the auction, including links to other FCC documents on AWS, see the Small Entity Compliance Guide -- Advanced Wireless Services Spectrum (AWS-1 Auction) released last week.

In the Report and Order (FCC 03-251) released Nov. 25, the FCC set service rules for the Advanced Wireless Services (AWS) in the 1.7 GHz and 2.1 GHz bands. While most of the Report and Order is devoted to licensing issues, the potential for interference to Broadcast Auxiliary Service stations operating adjacent to th

The upcoming Advanced Wireless Services auction has been compared to the first auction of cell phone frequencies. There is a lot of interest in this spectrum. Auction 66 will include 1,122 licenses in the 1710-1755 MHz and 2110-2155 MHz bands. The FCC will move the start date of the auction from June 29 to Aug. 9, 20

Regulatory and Standards

The Wireless Telecommunications Bureau of the FCC granted 550 of the 1,087 licenses won in the Advanced Wireless Services auction completed Sept. 18. The commission said the licenses can be used for wireless services and technologies, including voice, data, video and other wireless broadband services. The granted l

The FCC issued a news release last week saying it had formally notified the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) that it intends to auction licenses for Advanced Wireless Services in the 1710-1755 MHz and 2110-2155 MHz bands as early as June 2006. The Commercial Spectrum Enhancement Act r

Regulatory and Standards

The list of the finaly qualifying bidders will be published 10 days before the first official round of bidding.

The AWS licenses can be used to provide any of a wide array of services and technologies over 3G mobile networks.

The FCC's Multichannel Video Distribution and Data Service (MVDDS) auction ended Tuesday, Jan. 27, after 49 rounds of bidding. An FCC news release said the bids totaled $118,721,835. See last week's RF Report for information about MVDSS. Ten bidders won a total of 192 licenses. The top bidder was DTV Norwich, with

The FCC Wireless Telecommunications Bureau found nine applicants are qualified to bid in Auction 69 for 1.4 GHz band licenses.