"This may be splitting hairs, but the next FCC auction
will actually be for spectrum at 39GHz."
Hi Bernard, I just went and checked out the FCC site for the first time since the LMDS auction and am a little confused about what they're doing.
They're setting the auction up just like the LMDS auction with bidding for 493 BTA's, but then instead of just a A and B block auction, it looks like they're planning 14 separate auctions per BTA. Is this right?
They're going to auction 1400MHz, from 38.6 to 40.0 GHz. (PS where's WinStar at? They must have 37.2 to 38.6???). It looks like the auction will then break up the 1400 MHz into 28 bands of 50 MHz, and then pairs of 50 MHz will be auctioned off, one 50 MHz for the send channel and one for the receive channel. So the auction will really be 493*14 or 6902 separate auctions??? If so, that sounds like a disaster right from the start.
If they're going to auction off each BTA in 100 MHz blocks, it looks like you could have several winners in each BTA with absolutely no competition, ie WCII, TGNT, and AT&T could each win 400MHz in a BTA without ever bidding against each other.
Also, if this keeps prices low again, as would seem reasonable to assume, what's that say for those hoping for a takeover of ARTT? Maybe that's why WinStar is so slow to act there. Most of ARTT's appeal, besides some European licenses, is allowing WinStar depth into the second and third tier cities. Maybe WinStar thinks it can pick up just as much bandwidth in these cities for the minimum FCC bid and that that would be cheaper than they could pick up ARTT for?
I wonder if there's any opportunity here for the little guy in the second and third tier type cities (those that will be ignored by WInStar and Teligent for years, if not forever). If I could buy up licenses around me for cheap, get Lucent to fund and perform the buildout, I'll run it for a few years with virtually no competition, and then sell out for big bucks to WinStar. Hummm, anybody interested in starting a broadband wireless company???? I know we got some good expertise on this thread, and we're pretty well spread out across the country, we could start our own nationwide broadband wireless ... :-) |
