Intellectual Property Law

700 MHz Auction Update: C Block Hits $4.7 Bil. Price

By Cynthia Brumfield

One bit of drama surrounding the 700 MHz spectrum auctions has died down. The C Block spectrum has hit its reserve price of $4.7 billion, meaning that someone -- and we don't yet know which company is involved -- will be offering mobile services on an open access basis.

The FCC, after a public controversy involving Google and top incumbent carriers, has required winning bidders for this spectrum to provide services on any technically qualified handset and to permit third-party applications to run over the network. But, that requirement only comes into play if the reserve price, the floor, for this spectrum hits $4.7 billion.

Because the actual bidders aren't know to the public yet, it's hard to say which company bid the $4.7 billion. But speculation centers on Google, the major impetus behind the open access requirements, and Verizon Wireless.

The total bid to date for all the licenses is $12.8 billion, surpassing the $10 billion threshold that the FCC promised the auctions would contribute to the U.S. Treasury.

The auction results are not all good news. So far, only one bidder has emerged for the public safety portion of the spectrum, the D block set of frequencies.

Full post as published by IP Democracy on January 31, 2008 (boomark / email).