FCC Raises $44.9 Billion in U.S. Wireless Spectrum Sale

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Source: The Wall Street Journal.

Technology

Winning Bidders in Record Spectrum Auction Won’t Be Known for Days

By Thomas Gryta

Updated Jan. 29, 2015 11:51 a.m. ET

The Federal Communications Commission’s biggest ever auction of wireless spectrum closed Thursday and raised a record $44.9 billion, a boon for taxpayers and a sign of the growing cost of supporting Americans’ smartphone habit.

The haul is more than twice as much as the government brought in from its last major sale of spectrum in 2008, back when Apple Inc. ’s iPhone was only about a year old.

It isn’t yet clear which among the 70 participants who qualified may have won the licenses that were up for sale. Also unknown is how much big bidders like Verizon Communications Inc., AT&T Inc., T-Mobile US Inc. and Dish Network Corp. may have paid. Bidding is confidential, and the FCC says the results won’t be released right away.

Still, the auction’s aggressive bidding surprised analysts who thought it would be a quiet affair dominated by AT&T and Verizon. Anonymous results show multiple bidders fought hard for coveted licenses in markets like New York and Los Angeles, which commanded the largest sums. As of the auction close, the four main licenses for the New York region alone totaled about $6.2 billion.
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—Ryan Knutson contributed to this article

Write to Thomas Gryta at [e-mail]

Read more: http://www.wsj.com/articles/fcc-raises-44-9-billion-in-u-s-wireless-spectrum-sale-1422548474

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FCC Spectrum Auction Pulls in Staggering $44.9 Billion

By Chloe Albanesius January 29, 2015 03:20pm EST

The auction, for 65 megahertz of spectrum in the AWS-3 band, kicked off on Nov. 13 and went on for 341 rounds.

Wireless providers certainly are eager to snap up available spectrum. The FCC today said that its most recent auction generated approximately $44.8 billion in revenue.

The auction, for 65 megahertz of spectrum in the AWS-3 band, kicked off on Nov. 13 and went on for 341 rounds. It topped $34 billion in bids by late November and eventually concluded with almost $45 billion.

"Although winning bidders must still make payments and submit applications prior to the grant of licenses, by any measure it's safe to say that the auction was an overwhelming success," Roger C. Sherman, chief of the FCC's Wireless Telecommunications Bureau, wrote in a Thursday blog post. Winners will be revealed in the next few days, Reuters said.

[Fred Sanders]

1. Wow. That is enough to fully fund a national infrastructre Bill.

[Igel]

2. Except that it goes into the general fund.

And will count as "deficit reduction," just as TARP repayments counted as "deficit reduction."

About 9% off the current deficit, IIRC. It'll be attributed to savvy budgeting or wonderful job creation. Instead, it's a one-time (for a while, anyway) sale of public resources. Won't stop the gloating misattribution, however.