WASHINGTON—Spectrum in Louisiana, Iowa and Hawaii is still attracting competition from bidders large and small in the Federal Communications Commission’s spectrum auction.
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After more than 100 rounds of bidding over 22 days, the FCC has received fewer than 20 bids in each of the last three rounds. But battles are still going on, and analysts expect to see the auction go on for at least another week or two, and possibly continue until the end of the month.
In round 101, Verizon Wireless recaptured two licenses in Monroe and Shreveport, La., from designated-entity Cavalier Wireless by bidding them up to $189,000 and $575,000 respectively. Meanwhile, Leap Wireless International Inc. took spectrum in Lake Charles, La., from Verizon with a high bid of $828,000. Verizon had been vying for the same spectrum with the Sprint Nextel Corp.-cable joint venture’s bidding entity until Cavalier jumped in.
Jim Wiesenberg, principal of spectrum consulting firm WW Associates, noted that Verizon Wireless could use the auction’s waning rounds as an opportunity to bid up spectrum prices for the Sprint Nextel-cable joint venture.
T-Mobile USA Inc. outbid U.S. Cellular Corp.-backed Barat Wireless L.P. on a 20-megahertz license in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, with a new high bid of nearly $1.4 million.
Among smaller companies still participating in the auction, LL License Holdings II L.L.C. (backed by Long Lines Wireless, a telecom company that serves parts of Iowa, Nebraska and South Dakota), and designated-entity KTC AWS Ltd. are dueling over two licenses in South Dakota. Long Lines acquired two small Iowa carriers late last year and has said that it plans to expand GSM wireless coverage to rural areas that national carriers generally overlook. KTC currently holds nine licenses worth $1.5 million, all of which are in South Dakota. LL License Holdings also holds nine licenses, having bid about $4.2 million for spectrum in Minnesota, North Dakota, Iowa and Nebraska.
DE Cavalier Wireless L.L.C. lost out on three licenses in round 101; in addition to the Louisiana licenses that Verizon grabbed, the Sprint Nextel Corp.-cable joint venture outbid Cavalier on 10 megahertz of spectrum in Honolulu, Hawaii.
