CORRECTED - FCC auction breaks record with $9.3 bln in bids
In WASHINGTON story headlined "FCC auction breaks record with $9.3 bln in bids" please correct 8th paragraph to say "a few hundreds of thousands of dollars" instead of "tens of millions". (Corrects size of difference of bid.)
A corrected repetition follows.
By Jeremy Pelofsky
WASHINGTON, Dec 20 (Reuters) - The Federal Communications Commission ongoing auction of valuable airwaves broke a record on Wednesday, pulling in $9.34 billion in bids, and will likely keep rising as companies seek to expand and improve service.
The auction, which could last until mid-January and analysts expect to draw in $11 billion to $20 billion, topped the agency's 1996 auction of PCS licenses that netted $9.2 billion.
Nextel Communications Inc. (NASDAQ: NXTL), which had said it had enough spectrum to grow its existing customer base by four or five times, dropped out after 19 rounds of the auction.
Attempts to contact Nextel for comment were not immediately successful.
Verizon Wireless, the joint venture between Verizon Communications and Vodafone Group Plc, was way out in front of the auction after the 19th round offering $3.47 billion, including a $790.2 million bid for one license covering New York City.
The company also has bid $494 million for a license covering the Chicago area and $424.6 million for one covering Los Angeles, according to data released by the FCC.
Salmon PCS, representing SBC Communications Inc. (NYSE: SBC) and BellSouth Corp.'s (NYSE: BLS) joint venture Cingular Wireless, was in second offering $1.36 billion for licenses including $628.3 million for a second license in New York City.
Alaska Native Wireless, which has ties to AT&T Wireless Group (NYSE: AWE), was running a close third offering just a few hundreds of thousands of dollars less than Salmon and bidding $581.1 million for the third license available covering New York City.
Licenses in big markets like Los Angeles, New York, Washington, D.C. and Boston have drawn the highest bids where consumer demand is the highest for wireless services and companies are trying to improve service by reducing the number of dropped calls and fill holes in coverage.
After bidding on Thursday afternoon wraps up, the auction will suspend until Jan. 5 for the U.S. holiday season. |
