Cingular cell phone service - NEWS: T-Mobile Leads Spectrum Bidding

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NEWS: T-Mobile Leads Spectrum Bidding

John Navas

2006-08-17, 4:33 am

<http://www.forbes.com/technology/20...df_0816fcc.html>

After a week of bidding, T-Mobile leads the U.S. Federal
Communications Commission's wireless spectrum auction, putting $3.04
billion on the line. But two U.S. satellite TV giants who had been
expected to commit dollars to the auction have all but dropped out of
the bidding.

Spectrum, or airspace, licenses are the bread and butter of the
wireless industry, since carriers need it to bolster their existing
networks or add new services. Through 20 rounds, the FCC's spectrum
auction has hit $10.27 billion in total bids--well within the $8
billion to $15 billion range that industry observers had predicted.
Deutsche Telekom's (nyse: DT - news - people ) T-Mobile--the
fourth-largest U.S. wireless carrier--has ponied up the most money to
date; observers say the carrier has a crucial need to add a
next-generation data network to its service platter. T-Mobile's high
bids include large regional airspace licenses covering the Northeast,
Southeast, Great Lakes, Central and Western states.

But since the FCC is actually parceling off 1,122 individual
licenses, the auction has a series of different leaders--a list that
changes hour to hour as the FCC reports its latest results. As of
Wednesday afternoon, Verizon Wireless, a joint venture of Verizon
Communications (nyse: VZ - news - people ) and Vodafone (nyse: VOD -
news - people ), had bid $2.8 billion for various licenses.
Dallas-based regional carrier MetroPCS Communications is fourth, with
$1.26 billion in bidding, with its largest bids covering several
Northeast, Central and Western states. The largest U.S. carrier,
Cingular Wireless, jointly owned by AT&T (nyse: T - news - people )
and BellSouth (nyse: BLS - news - people ), has bid $612 million so
far.

...

The auction is far from over: ...

[MORE]

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Best regards, FAQ FOR CINGULAR WIRELESS:
John Navas <http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/ Cingu...less_FA
Q>

Agent_C

2006-08-17, 7:33 am

On Thu, 17 Aug 2006 04:57:01 GMT, John Navas
< spamfilter0@navasgro
up.com> wrote:

>Spectrum, or airspace, licenses are the bread and butter of the
> wireless industry, since carriers need it to bolster their existing
> networks or add new services.

John,

It might be helpful to explain the significance of this to the casual
wireless user, when posting these trade stories.

Regards,

A_C

Cyrus Afzali

2006-08-17, 10:33 am

On Thu, 17 Aug 2006 06:29:46 -0400, Agent_C
<Agent-C-hates-spam@nyc.rr.com> wrote:

>On Thu, 17 Aug 2006 04:57:01 GMT, John Navas
>< spamfilter0@navasgro
up.com> wrote:
>
>
>John,
>
>It might be helpful to explain the significance of this to the casual
>wireless user, when posting these trade stories.

The second paragraph of the story itself pretty much does that.

freakybubba@gmail.com

2006-08-17, 12:33 pm

John Navas wrote:
> <http://www.forbes.com/technology/20...df_0816fcc.html>
>
> After a week of bidding, T-Mobile leads the U.S. Federal
> Communications Commission's wireless spectrum auction, putting $3.04
> billion on the line. But two U.S. satellite TV giants who had been
> expected to commit dollars to the auction have all but dropped out of
> the bidding.
>
> Spectrum, or airspace, licenses are the bread and butter of the
> wireless industry, since carriers need it to bolster their existing
> networks or add new services. Through 20 rounds, the FCC's spectrum
> auction has hit $10.27 billion in total bids--well within the $8
> billion to $15 billion range that industry observers had predicted.
> Deutsche Telekom's (nyse: DT - news - people ) T-Mobile--the
> fourth-largest U.S. wireless carrier--has ponied up the most money to
> date; observers say the carrier has a crucial need to add a
> next-generation data network to its service platter. T-Mobile's high
> bids include large regional airspace licenses covering the Northeast,
> Southeast, Great Lakes, Central and Western states.
>
> But since the FCC is actually parceling off 1,122 individual
> licenses, the auction has a series of different leaders--a list that
> changes hour to hour as the FCC reports its latest results. As of
> Wednesday afternoon, Verizon Wireless, a joint venture of Verizon
> Communications (nyse: VZ - news - people ) and Vodafone (nyse: VOD -
> news - people ), had bid $2.8 billion for various licenses.
> Dallas-based regional carrier MetroPCS Communications is fourth, with
> $1.26 billion in bidding, with its largest bids covering several
> Northeast, Central and Western states. The largest U.S. carrier,
> Cingular Wireless, jointly owned by AT&T (nyse: T - news - people )
> and BellSouth (nyse: BLS - news - people ), has bid $612 million so
> far.

Does this mean we could expect improved coverage or the same ol'
coverage with additional services (eg. 3G)?

~J.

John Navas

2006-08-17, 10:33 pm

On 17 Aug 2006 09:34:11 -0700, "freakybubba@gmail.com"
<freakybubba@gmail.com> wrote in
<1155832451.691593.210960@h48g2000cwc.googlegroups.com>:

>John Navas wrote:
[color=darkred]
>Does this mean we could expect improved coverage or the same ol'
>coverage with additional services (eg. 3G)?

Auction 66 is for 1,122 regional licenses in the 1710-1755MHz and
2110-2155MHz bands. Thus can't be used to improve current coverage,
only for 3+G services.

--
Best regards, FAQ FOR CINGULAR WIRELESS:
John Navas <http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/ Cingu...less_FA
Q>

Isaiah Beard

2006-08-21, 3:33 pm

John Navas wrote:

>
>
> Auction 66 is for 1,122 regional licenses in the 1710-1755MHz and
> 2110-2155MHz bands. Thus can't be used to improve current coverage,
> only for 3+G services.

Either way, this is no surprise. T-Mobile is long known to be
spectrum-starved, while the other carriers are less so.

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