WASHINGTON—The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) qualified 128 bidders to participate in the scheduled 19 June auction of 758 licenses in the lower 700 MHz band (698-746 MHz).
Qualified bidders made more than US$157 million in down payments.
No nationwide carrier filed to participate, but other paging, cellular and wireless licensees, including Arctic Slope Telecommunications and Cellular Inc., Alpine Communications L.C. and Guam Cellular and Paging, have been deemed qualified to participate.
Some broadcasters, including Banks Broadcasting, LIN Television, PGTV and Sinclair Broadcast Group, have also been deemed qualified to participate.
Scott Reiter, who won licenses in the re-auction of bankrupt NextWave Telecom’s personal communications services (PCS) C- and F-block licenses, qualified to participate.
Mario Gabelli, an investment banker who often dabbles in wireless companies, was qualified to participate under the aegis of Lynch 3G Communications.
One of the problems with the 700 MHz band is that it is currently encumbered with television broadcasters that are transitioning slowly to digital. This is a main reason why the nationwide carriers are not interested in bidding on the 700 MHz band and have worked hard to delay the auction of this spectrum. The FCC last month agreed to delay the auction of the 700 MHz band until January.
