WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission has reduced the minimum bid amounts for the June 14 auction of 104 guard-band licenses in the 700 MHz band.
The maximum opening bid will now be $623,000 for the two megahertz license and $1,245,000 for the four megahertz license. Both licenses are for the New York market. Originally, these amounts were proposed to be $3.74 million for the four megahertz license and $1.87 million for the two megahertz license. The opening bid will remain at $2,500 for the smallest markets.
“The [FCC’s Wireless Telecommunications] Bureau clearly recognized that the original numbers made participation nearly impossible for much of the industry that has looked forward to this spectrum. Besides opening the auction to more participants, the bureau’s decision may allow eventual licensees to charge affordable lease fees, ensuring greater availability of the spectrum to small business. [The American Mobile Telecommunications Association] appreciates the bureau’s willingness to change its figures, especially given its time constraints,” said AMTA President Alan Shark.
The FCC is creating two guard bands to protect public safety from interference. The licenses are being sold to guard-band managers. After winning a license at auction, the guard-band manager would then be free to “subdivide its spectrum in any manner it chooses and make it available to system operators or directly to end users for fixed or mobile communications, consistent with the frequency coordination and interference rules,” said the FCC.
The guard-band managers would not be permitted, however, to lease spectrum to those using a cellular-like architecture.
The licenses will be for 52 major economic areas. One license will be four megahertz (a pair of two megahertz blocks) located at 762 MHz to 764 MHz and 792 MHz to 794 MHz. The second license will be two megahertz (a pair of one megahertz blocks) at 746 MHz to 747 MHz and 776 MHz to 777 MHz.
There was concern when the FCC first announced the minimum bid amounts for the guard-band licenses that they were too high. This price and the fact that incumbent broadcasters must be protected-and at least 50 percent of the guard-band spectrum is encumbered-may limit the number of participants in the auction.
Other private wireless trade associations agreed with AMTA.
“We think it’s a positive action on the FCC’s part. It gives small businesses a more realistic chance at participating in the auction. It is a no-brainer. It is a good thing,” said Don Vasek, director of government relations for the Personal Communications Industry Association.
“We are supportive of the FCC’s action. It will increase the number of bidders taking part in the auctions and we think that will be a positive thing,” said J. Sharpe Smith, spokesman for the Industrial Telecommunications Association.
