WASHINGTON—The Federal Communications Commission’s auction of three rural cellular licenses ended on Tuesday with affiliates of Western Wireless Corp. and Cingular Wireless L.L.C. walking away with the licenses.
Both Western and Cingular had received interim operating authority from the FCC to operate in these areas before the auction.
“Western Wireless and Cingular now have official ownership for spectrum in these areas where they had already spent money deploying networks, attracting customers and providing roaming service. So Western and Cingular had a vested interest in keeping these license areas,” said Ric Prentiss of Raymond James & Associates, in a note to investors.
Western’s affiliate bid more than $9.4 million for the Barnes, N.D., license. Prentiss priced this at $4.33 per pop.
Cingular affiliate Southwestern Bell Wireless L.L.C. bid nearly $4.3 million for the Polk, Ark., license. Prentiss said this prices out to $2.35 per pop.
CCPR Services Inc., another Cingular affiliate, bid nearly $2.2 million for the Ceiba, Puerto Rico, license. Prentiss said this is $2.06 per pop.
