*NextWave and C Block* Dave, sure enough, Bill was right about NextWave going broke. But so did the others. Now the C-block re-auction will retest the markets. I'd laugh if the bids went even HIGHER! It's very difficult to value spectrum.
It wasn't NextWave who set the price. It was the last bidder who they pushed them up to that price. Pocket Communications bid the same.
The real reason for failure wasn't just the spectrum cost, it was lack of willingness of financiers, plus cdmaOne was still in development with some technical hiccoughs to be sorted out. Then the Koreans who were going to do the funding went bust. As well as which, the fake bidders like Pocket Communications slid out the back door, leaving NextWave sitting on spectrum which might be available in a re-auction at a fifth of the price.
So NextWave had to decide whether to battle on, or wait for a couple of years when finance might be more available and the spectrum might be really cheap and equipment would be better and cheaper. Looks as though they went for the discount. The FCC whined like a 747 but were stuck with a badly managed auction where the bidders didn't have to put their money where their mouth was BEFORE they bid.
Check out moc.govt.nz
for how to run an auction. NZ should contract with the FCC to get things right and run the auction for them.
So Bill Frezza wasn't totally right to say NextWave failed. True, they did, but the reasons and what comes next are important too. You won't see GSM bidders in C-block this time around!
Mqurice
PS: Making silly C-block rules for women, brown people, small companies, fat people, favoured people, homosexuals and people with left-handedness was stupid too. I thought in the Land of the Free and Brave, people were treated as individuals and they are equal before the law. Guess not. |
