August 10, 2006 Satellite Pair Leads Bids in F.C.C. Auction By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/10/business/media/10spectrum.html?pagewanted=print WASHINGTON, Aug. 9 (AP) A partnership that includes the nations two top satellite television providers emerged as the leading bidder at the close of the first day of a major auction of public airwaves. Wireless DBS, consisting of EchoStar Communications and the DirecTV Group, was the top bidder on Wednesday, offering $282.5 million for 13 licenses. After the first day, net bids in the auction totaled $897.8 million, according to the Federal Communications Commission, which is running the auction. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that the sale will ultimately raise $10 billion to $15 billion. The F.C.C. said that the auction would lead to the deployment of new services and wireless broadband for consumers. The auction will continue until no more bids are submitted, which means it could last several weeks. The satellite television companies outdistanced T-Mobile USA, the most active bidder in the morning round. T-Mobile, a subsidiary of the German telecommunications giant Deutsche Telekom, ended the day with top bids totaling $121.7 million on 23 licenses. The third-leading bidder was SpectrumCo, an alliance of the nations largest cable television providers. The group bid $106.9 million on four licenses. Bidders are competing for the right to use portions of the radio spectrum, a publicly owned, extremely valuable highway in the sky that allows sound, data and pictures to be transmitted from one place to another. A total of 1,122 licenses are being auctioned in a sale that is the largest offering of mobile wireless spectrum to date. In late 2000 and early 2001, a spectrum sale attracted $16.9 billion in bids. ================================ George Antunes, Political Science Dept University of Houston; Houston, TX 77204 Voice: 713-743-3923 Fax: 713-743-3927 antunes at uh dot edu Reply with a "Thank you" if you liked this post. _____________________________ MEDIANEWS mailing list [email protected] To unsubscribe send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
