FCC raises nearly $14 billion on auction of spectrum for AWS

The Federal Communications Commission’s first auction of AWS spectrum licenses ended on Sept. 18 and raised total gross bids of $13.9 billion.

A total of 1122 licenses were offered in the auction, in which 104 bidders won 1087 licenses. The AWS licenses can be used to provide any of a wide array of services and technologies, including voice, data, video, and other wireless broadband services offered over third generation (3G) mobile networks.

The top five winning bidders based on the net amount of their winning bids included T-Mobile License; Cellco Partnership, which is doing business as Verizon Wireless; SpectrumCo; MetroPCS AWS; and Cingular AWS.

As required by the Commercial Spectrum Enhancement Act (CSEA) for this auction, the FCC set a reserve price to cover the estimated relocation costs offederal stations occupying 1710MHz to 1755MHz, the frequencies covered by half of each AWS license in the auction.

For more information, visit: www.fcc.gov.