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Just what does AT&T plan on doing with all that 700Mhz B-Block spectrum (from the 700Mhz FCC auction) and that valuable swath of 700Mhz C-Block spectrum (from Aloha Partners)? It looks like AT&T is going to use the fresh-off-the-grill spectrum to launch its own 4G LTE mobile broadband network.The additional spectrum firmly plants AT&T at [...]

Filed under: ATT , Verizon Wireless No surprises here, but boy is that going to be a difficult expense to justify on the ol' corporate card. AT&T says it'll pay a $1.3 billion down payment to the FCC within the next 10 days to get a lock on that spectrum it just won , $500 million of which was paid up front before the auction began. The company will be pushing the remaining $5.3 billion over the counter before April 17, and is financing the purchase with funds from operations and a good bit of debt. We haven't seen a similar filing from Verizon yet, but we're guessing the company is facing similar deadlines for its $9.36 billion of spectrum. Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Filed under: Features , Misc Win or lose, all the bidders wrapped up in the so-called Auction 73 for precious spectrum in the 700MHz band are still under tight FCC-imposed gag orders in an effort to stem any funny business, but it looks like they're at least ready to come out and dip their toes into the PR waters. Verizon, the biggest winner having claimed the big, wide Block C prize, says that it's "pleased with [its] auction results" (we should certainly hope so), that the new airwaves will help it maintain its "reputation as the nation's most reliable wireless network," and that they're now better positioned to lead the way with new services and devices. The megacarrier goes on to boast about the fact that its winning bids score it massive 298 million person footprint, plus another 171 million worth of licenses in different Blocks. Meanwhile, AT&T seems happy with its purchase, too -- but then again, it's not like any of these companies would be issuing immediate statements expressing buyer's remorse, we guess. The number one US carrier by subscribers reports that its newly acquired licenses, in combination with spectrum snatched from Aloha Partners earlier this year, now gives it 100 percent coverage in the 700MHz arena in the nation's top 200 markets, with "quality spectrum" (whatever that means) covering 95 percent of the American populace. For what it's worth, AT&T's Auction 73 purchases were in Block B, which has moderately less bandwidth than Verizon's Block C win -- but as they say, it's not the bandwidth of the spectrum, it's the motion of the frequencies, so we'll have to wait to see how these guys actually use these licenses before we rush to any conclusions. Finally, from its brief statement, Google appears to have gotten exactly what it wanted : nothing at all. The company says that Auction 73 "produced a major victory for American consumers" because Block...

After last night’s Super Tuesday projections and primary results, we’re pretty much done with analyst projections. But, we can’t help but give in to our fascination with the FCC 700Mhz auction . The latest polls projections put Verizon Wireless as the winner of the C-Block, ousting Google as a potential new wireless carrier. Google is believed to have recently put up a bid to meet the reserve price of the 700Mhz C-Block auction - to the tune of $ 4.7 billion . The bid was a show of good faith on Google’s part - who previously pledged to bid the reserve price if open-access rules were adopted for the C-Block - in order to trigger the open-access rules . However, it was widely believed that Google would simply put up the bid to ensure that the winner of the C-Block would be held to open-access standards, and then sit back and watch the other big dog steamroll the competition. That other big dog seems to be Verizon Wireless. Analysts believe that the No. 2 national carrier will win the C-Block by bidding up regional licenses. According to auction rules, if the total bids on the smaller regional licenses surpasses the bid-price on the national C-Block license, the FCC will divvy up the C-Block and award those licenses to the highest bidder or bidders. In other words, Verizon may just win the C-Block by successfully bidding smaller regional licenses. And, they’ll need it, considering AT&T just got the FCC go-ahead to gobble up Aloha Wireless’ 12Mhz slice of 700Mhz spectrum. The total of regional license-bids has hit $4.74 billion, which tops Google’s rumored $4.7 billion bid for the C-Block. If Google (one of the only other auction participants with the cash to compete on a serious level) decides to sit back and let the likes of Verizon Wireless snatch the spectrum, we’re going to be in for much of the same wireless shenanigans in the US. At least we’ll be able to use Android handset on Verizon’s 700Mhz network...

Filed under: ATT , Verizon Wireless Feel free to shout it out in the comments, we know y'all are gunning for a piece. What's that? Don't quite have enough change in the couch to hit the $4.6 billion minimum bid on the 700MHz C block? How lame. Lucky for us, there are quite a few companies out there that do have that kind of cash earmarked for this and other highly desirable parts of the spectrum, which should make for some exciting bidding. Too bad FCC's auction process, which begins on January 24th, is totally blind, and with the exception of the few companies that have publicly stated their intentions to bid, we won't know much about how the auction went down until February or March. The following, however, are confirmed: AT&T; T-Mobile says it already has plenty. Cox Communications ; Time Warner and Comcast aren't biting. Frontline ; gunning for the D block. Google; might just do the minimum to ensure the C block is "open." Verizon; Sprint is busy with WiMAx. Sounds like slim pickings, but there a bunch of wild cards out there, including satellite providers, smaller wireless carriers and even big box retailers. [Via paidContent.org ] Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

All the whining, suing , and petitioning from the likes of Verizon Wireless , AT&T and Frontline have prompted FCC Chairman Kevin Martin to take action . The recently approved open-access rules (for which we applauded the FCC) are now the target of revision by Martin. As you’ll remember, the 22Mhz block of the 700Mhz frequency spectrum auction , referred to as the C-block , is currently setup to require that the winning carrier allow any device and any software to use the network. Chairman Martin failed to propose revisions to the open-access rules this past week and is now aggressively pushing to “clarify” the rules - through a “declaratory ruling.” It looks like Martin is trying to change the open-access guidelines in response to Verizon Wireless’s recent lawsuit against the FCC, and is likely also the result of Verizon Wireless lobbying the FCC. Industry insiders fear that Martin is trying make changes to the rules outside the scope of the public-comment system. We’ll see how this one plays out. It seems that the FCC is moving towards appeasing Verizon Wireless, but public outcry could keep that from happening. So, get on your soapboxes and start spreading the “open-access” word. [Via: RCR News ] ---Related Articles at IntoMobile:AT&T, Frontline petition FCC over upcoming 700Mhz spectrum auctionFCC releases details, rules for upcoming 700Mhz frequency spectrum auction - $10 billion reserve priceGoogle is still a player in FCC's 700Mhz spectrum auctionFCC approves open-access rules for upcoming 700Mhz wireless spectrum auctionVerizon Wireless sues to get FCC rules of 700Mhz auction removed