Bidding boost subsides: 700 MHz auction action continues to slide

The Federal Communication Commission’s attempt yesterday to spur interest — and hasten the end — of the 700 MHz auction by moving to “stage three” bidding provided a temporary boost that by this morning seemed to have lost steam. Bids per round had jumped from the teens and single digits on Monday back into 20s early yesterday, only to have fallen back to the high teens by yesterday afternoon and through the early rounds today.
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Today’s auction rounds counted 19 bids through rounds 155, 156 and 157, before sliding to 18 new bids in round 158 and 17 new bids in round 159. Through round 159 total potential winning bids sat at $19.581 billion for the 1,089 licenses that had received bids. Ten licenses had failed to log a potential winning bid and remained in the hands of the FCC.
Similar to the past several days — and weeks for that matter — bidding remained concentrated on a handful of A-, B- and E-Block licenses spread across rural areas of the country. Those licenses garnering at least one bid through early rounds today included the A Block covering Boise City, Idaho; B-Block licenses covering Lake, Minn., Franklin, Ark., and Aurora, Ill.; and the E-Block license covering Chattanooga, Tenn.
The C-Block licenses have not received a new bid since round 90, while the national commercial-public safety D-Block license has not received a bid since the opening round and remains far short of its $1.3 billion reserve price.
The auction will close when there are no new bids during a round. The FCC is expected to release the names of license winners within 10 days following close of the auction.