Following a brief surge of new activity, bidding in the Federal Communications Commission’s Auction 97 has again shrunk back to a tepid pace, though the FCC spectrum auction’s advancing record haul continues to impress.
Through round 87 this morning, total auction proceeds had surpassed $43.6 billion, with the latest round adding nearly $21 million to that total through 64 new bids. At the end of that round just three licenses of the 1,614 total licenses up for bid did not have a potential winning offer: G-Block centered on San Miguel, Colo.; I-Block centered on Monroe, La.; and H-Block centered on Lafayette, La.
Ahead of round 68 the FCC moved the auction process to “stage two,” which requires that in order to meet the activity requirement and avoid using an activity rule waiver or having its eligibility reduced, “a bidder must be active on at least 95% of its current bidding eligibility in each round.” That move spurred new activity as the number of bids initially more than doubled. However, activity has since slowed.
The auction’s biggest sticker remains affixed to the J-Block license centered on New York City, with one lucky bidder having committed more than $2.7 billion for that license. The J-Block license centered on Los Angeles is No. 2 with a nearly $2.1 billion bid, followed by the I-Block license centered on New York City at $1.3 billion. License winners won’t be known until after the auction concludes.
Spectrum Financial Partners has put together a video showing the progress in bids on a megahertz/per-pop basis.
The paired licenses up for bid in Auction 97 include three 5×5 megahertz licenses (G-, H- and I-Blocks) and a single 10×10 megahertz license (J-Block). The G-Block licenses are carved into commercial market area-sized licenses, which total 734 licenses covering the country. The remaining blocks are economic area-sized that will total 176 licenses covering the country. The 15 megahertz of unpaired spectrum is split into two licenses, one with 5 megahertz of total spectrum parsed out on an EA basis, and the other with 10 megahertz of spectrum also in an EA configuration.
According to stats from Auctionologies, the J-Block licenses account for nearly $18 billion in total bids, with the H- and I-Block licenses each contributing about $8.25 billion to the overall haul. On a megahertz/per-pop basis, the J-Block licenses stood at $2.87 at the end of round 88, just ahead of the $2.64 posted by the H- and I-Blocks.
Despite the slowdown, the FCC is at this point sticking with its six, 30-minute rounds per day, though that could change by the time next week’s proceedings get underway. The auction is set to continue until there are no bids in a round.
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Photo copyright: martince / 123RF Stock Photo
