The Federal Communication Commission’s 700 MHz auction headed into its third weekend on a slow, but steady pace. Some, or all – we won’t know until the auction is over due to the FCC’s blind-bidding rules – of the 199 bidders left in the proceedings continued to fight over a range of A-, B- and E-Block licenses during the final three rounds of bidding on Friday, pushing the auction’s total proceeds after round 51 to $19.229 billion.
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As was the case earlier in the day, each of the three afternoon rounds involved around 140 new bids worth around $20 million. Licenses receiving at least two bids per round through rounds 49, 50 and 51, included: E-Block licenses covering Idaho Falls and Twin Falls, Idaho; Colombia, Mo.; and Aberdeen, S.D.; B-Block licenses covering Wheeling, W.V.; and Mayaguez, Puerto Rico; and the A-Block license covering Ashville, N.C. The most expensive license receiving interest was the E Block covering New York City, which picked up one new bid during each round today – accounting for nearly half of the proceeds from each round – and that added $37.8 million to its potential winning bid price.
The auction is set to resume on Monday with the current six rounds per day schedule.
