First day of 700 MHz auction worth $2.8 billion

No, it’s not the $12 billion they’re seeking. Yet. But the FCC has to be marginally pleased after the first round of bidding on the 700 MHz spectrum on Thursday. Wireless carriers and other assorted technology companies dropped bids worth $2.8 billion in the first two rounds. Of course, we don’t know exactly who placed the bids. I’m sure that some sites will come up with lists, but most of them can be considered bogus. Consider it like the Mitchell Report, where false lists of the accused circulated before the official list was announced.

One bid is said to be near $1 billion itself, though it didn’t come from one source. It was eight bidders who wanted to set up a spectrum across the U.S. An initial reaction would be that Google teamed with some of the bidders in this effort. But that is pure speculation. For all we know it could have been eight unheard-of companies.

Better news is that someone actually did bid on the D-Block, which is reserved for a public safety network. There were fears that this block would be ignored. Frontline was the only company really interested in it, and they’re kaput. But there is a $472 million bid in, so something’s going to get done.

[Gearlog]

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