WASHINGTON-Nextel Communications Inc. has received some competition -albeit minor-in the ongoing auction of licenses for the lower 80 channels of the 800 MHz band.
At the end of round 24, Nextel’s subsidiary, Nextel Spectrum Acquisition Inc., still dominated the bidding, having made 2,514 bids totaling more than $8.6 million. The next closest bidder, Southern Communications Co., has made only 117 bids totaling $190,400.
Analysis of the license-by-license/market-by-market data shows that Nextel has currently lost some licenses. However, bidding appears to remain strong with 123 new bids being made in round 24.
In other auction-related news, the Federal Communications Commission has accepted all of the applications for the 700 MHz guard-band manager licenses. Those wishing to file petitions to deny these license grants must do so before Nov. 27.
The FCC is also reviewing short-form applications for the personal communications services C- and F-block re-auction. The applications were filed Nov. 6.
While carriers were reluctant to release their applications, all of the expected players have apparently applied to participate in the re-auction.
The re-auction is currently scheduled to begin Dec. 12.
Last week, the FCC asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia for an expedited briefing schedule on whether the agency has the authority to re-auction the licenses reclaimed from bankrupt NextWave Telecom Inc. The briefing schedule, which doesn’t end until Jan. 4, would allow for the re-auction to go forward. NextWave was required to respond to the FCC’s motion within 24 hours.
The story may not be over, however. Congress returns this week for a lame duck session to complete passage of spending bills.
While House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) does not want to attach telecom riders to the remaining appropriations bills, some political pundits believe due to the electoral chaos of last week, anything could be possible, especially from members who are leaving or were voted out of office.
