Verizon, AT&T Wireless Top
Bidders in FCC Spectrum Auction

Top carriers pay top dollar to fill in wireless network gaps as airwaves auctions continue.

by Reuters Staff [January 8, 2001]

Verizon Wireless and an AT&T Wireless Group topped the bidding on Friday in an auction of U.S. wireless telephone licenses as total offers inched up to $13.1 billion.

After 31 rounds, Verizon Wireless led with bids of $5.5 billion. The company, a joint venture of Verizon Communications and Britain's Vodafone Group Plc, had the highest bid on nine of the top 15 markets, including New York, Los Angeles and Chicago.

Network gaps
Companies are vying for licenses to help them fill gaps in their wireless networks, improve service in congested markets, and launch new products like wireless data and Internet services.

Alaska Native Wireless, an AT&T affiliate, followed with bids of almost $2.8 billion for markets including New York and Atlanta. Salmon PCS LLC, backed by a BellSouth and SBC Communications Inc. joint venture, came in third with $1.9 billion in bids.

Since the auction resumed from its holiday break on Thursday, the pace of bidding slowed and the number of participants shrank.

This week, high bids have increased by only 2.0 to 2.5 percent, compared with increases of 30 percent in December, said Carr Krueger, a partner in Arthur Andersen's business consulting group.

Only 49 bidders remain out of the original 87, and notable companies such as Sprint Corp., Nextel Communications Inc. and Alltel Corp. have already bowed out.

The auction, already the most lucrative sale of airwaves ever conducted by the Federal Communications Commission, could fetch up to $20 billion. It has topped the agency's previous auction record of $9.2 billion, which dates back to the 1996 sale of PCS licenses.

Some analysts expect the FCC to accelerate the auction to six rounds of bidding per day, up from four rounds, and the bidding could wrap up by mid-January.

— End    

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