WASHINGTON-Bidders returned to the Federal Communications Commission’s auction of C-block broadband personal communications services and 900 MHz specialized mobile radio licenses with renewed fervor last week, following complications from the government’s second furlough and the East Coast Blizzard of ’96.
While there continues to be only one round of bidding per day for both C-block and 900 MHz SMR hopefuls, the FCC did kick SMR auctions up to Phase 2 status, beginning with Round 17. Phase 2 mandates that bidders remain active on at least 75 percent of their bidding units.
The move motivated 900 MHz SMR auction participants to shift into high gear. New bids rose to 224, up from 55 in Round 16 and new high bids totaled 194, up from 52 during Round 16. While net revenues for the 17 rounds reached $171.4 million, the percentage of net change from day to day remains at about 1 percent.
It is impossible to predict which 900 MHz SMR markets are top targets each day; following the close of Round 16, different licenses in Denver, Phoenix, San Antonio, New York and Los Angeles were the most popular. At the end of Round 17, that changed somewhat, with Columbus, Ohio, and San Francisco entering the fray.
High bidders also remain inconsistent. Mobile Radio Associates Inc., Nelson Repeater Services Inc., A&B Electronics Inc., Eastern Communications Ltd. and Fleet Talk Inc. headed the list of Round 16 high rollers. Following Round 17, Cleveland Mobile Radio Sales Inc., FCI 900 Inc. (Nextel Communications Inc.), Paging Network of America Inc., SGI Communications Inc. and Centennial Communications Corp. were the leaders.
On the C-block side, results of Round 7 showed 581 new bids, 256 new high bids, $1.78 billion in net revenues and a 11.43 percent change in net revenues from Round 6. The top five most-active markets were San Diego, Denver, San Antonio, Milwaukee and Kansas City, Mo. The top five high bids were: U.S AirWaves Holding Inc. ($283.3 million for New York), PCS 2000 L.P. ($163.6 million for Los Angeles and $72.2 million for San Francisco), Airlink LLC ($101.9 million for Chicago) and Omnipoint PCS Entrepreneurs Inc. ($73.5 million for Philadelphia).
According to analysis provided by Chantilly, Va.-based BIA Consulting Inc., New York continues to be the most sought-after market, with the highest price per pop paid: $20.63.
BIA’s aggregate analysis of the first seven C-block auction rounds shows that the top 10 highest-dollar-value markets are New York ($377.8 million), Los Angeles ($218.2 million), Chicago ($135.9 million), Philadelphia/Wilmington/Trenton ($98.1 million), San Francisco/Oakland/San Jose ($96.3 million), Washington, D.C. ($81.6 million), Boston ($71.6 million), Dallas/Fort Worth ($71.4 million), Houston ($66.8 million) and Detroit ($64.3 million).
The consulting and valuation firm also found that the top 10 most active C-block markets so far are St. Louis, San Antonio, Phoenix, San Diego, Milwaukee, Denver, San Francisco/Oakland/San Jose, Chicago, Dallas/Fort Worth and West Palm Beach/Boca Raton, Fla.
In a related C-block matter, the FCC’s Auction Division denied the requests of five C-block PCS auction applicants who had asked for certain waivers regarding their auction participation. New Wave LLC had asked to amend its short-form application to add the Salem/Albany/Corvallis, Ore., market. The company also wanted a waiver of the PCS/cellular cross-ownership and spectrum-cap rules in order to bid on the market.
New England PCS L.P. also wanted a waiver of the cross-ownership and spectrum-cap rules; RLV-PCS Partnership wanted to add one market; National Telecom PCS Inc. wanted to reduce the markets for which it was eligible to bid from all to just two; and Meretel Communications L.P. wanted to add six markets in Louisiana and Mississippi, as well as the Memphis, Tenn., BTA.
In a meeting with reporters last Thursday, FCC Chairman Reed Hundt unveiled his plan to lobby Congress hard in the near future to return to the commission approximately $19 million in fiscal funding. The money was left out of the continuing resolution signed by President Clinton that ended the government furlough, at least until Jan. 26.
Adamantly stating that the FCC cannot not carry out its legislative mandates under such a reduced budget, Hundt only half-jokingly took “under advisement” a suggestion to put certain FCC money-generating ventures (i.e., licensing, auctions, etc.) on hold for awhile until Congress and the Treasury felt the pressure of missing revenues.
Hundt also said the commission could suggest to Congress budget makers again that it be self-financed through auction revenues for the next several years; the idea originally was broached to the House Appropriations subcommittee last spring.
“This was not an unpopular idea,” said one FCC staffer, “but it needed more development before it could be presented and considered. I wouldn’t be shocked it we offered it up again.”
