AUCTION NEWS: Verizon Wireless throws weight around

WASHINGTON—Verizon Wireless staked a claim to all six of the largest licenses for sale in the advanced wireless services auction, bidding $3.5 billion in round 14 of the auction for 20 megahertz of spectrum covering the entire continental United States.

Look below for more round 14 details.

Verizon Wireless’ highest individual bid was $927 million for the F-block license covering the Northeast region of the United States; previous high bidders included Dolan Family Holdings L.L.C., which is backed by Cablevision System Corp. chairman Charles Dolan. Dolan Family Holdings had eight high bids in round 14, including bids for 10 MHz blocks in various parts of New Jersey, New York and Connecticut.

Low-cost carriers MetroPCS Communications Inc. and Leap Wireless International Inc. stayed in the game with high bids on both regional and market-specific spectrum. In the 14th round, MetroPCS was vying for 10 MHz licenses covering the Western, Southeastern and Northeastern regions of the country, plus additional spectrum in New York, Atlanta, Detroit and several Florida cities. Leap, meanwhile, offered high bids on two licenses adding up to 20 MHz of spectrum in the Great Lakes region, plus 10 MHz in the Central and Southeast regions. Leap also bid for licenses for Los Angeles, Denver and Seattle. Leap-backed Denali Spectrum License L.L.C. also bid highest for a 10 MHz license in the Northeast region.

The Sprint Nextel Corp.-cable joint venture appeared to have changed tactics in round 14, switching its focus from large regional licenses to smaller, market-specific licenses. The JV went from bidding on a few regional licenses in the first 10 rounds to bidding on dozens of smaller licenses in more recent rounds—83 in round 13 alone. In round 14, the JV hung as high bidders on 54 licenses in various markets—only one of which was a regional license, for 10 MHz of spectrum covering the Western region. The JV in round 14 bid on smaller A-, B- and C-block licenses covering markets including Cincinnati; Raleigh-Durham, N.C.; Charlotte-Gastonia, S.C.; Boston; Syracuse, N.Y.; Nashville, Tenn.; Oklahoma City; and Fresno, Calif.

Satellite television providers EchoStar Communications Corp. and DirecTV Group Inc. landed just one high bid in the 14th round, for a 10-MHz license in Alaska.

Bidding in round 14 reached a total of $7.3 billion, a 13-percent increase from the last round. There were 188 new bids in round 14, and 635 of the available spectrum licenses have received bids, leaving 487 licenses with no bids. From the original 168 eligible bidders, 149 are still competing for spectrum.