Bidding in the Federal Communications Commission’s Auction 96 remained subdued for a second straight day as participants sauntered into the weekend break adding but another $20 million in new potential winning bids for the 176 spectrum licenses up for grabs. Those licenses include 10 megahertz of spectrum in the upper 1.9 GHz band.
The total amount garnered through the five rounds on Friday was on par with the previous day’s haul, though with significantly fewer bids. The busiest round on Friday was round 41, which counted 41 new bids, with the remaining rounds scaring up between 14 (round 52) and 36 (round 51) new bids. One license covering North Platte, Neb., and eastern Colorado even saw its potential winning bid withdrawn. That license had received five potential winning bids, driving its value up from an opening bid of $61,000 in round 13 to a high of $111,000 during round 48, before having that bid withdrawn and the license falling back into the hands of the FCC.
Further slowing overall revenue growth was a near lack of new bids for the auction’s larger – and more expensive – markets. Only three of the 20 most expensive licenses so far in the auction received new bids on Friday, including Miami ($39.9 million), Houston ($31 million) and Denver ($18.1 million), which received two new bids during the day.
Despite the slow pace and handing back of a license, all 23 qualified participants in the auction remained on board through the end of the week. The FCC will not announce license winners until the auction is completed, which will come once a round does not receive any new bids.
The auction is set to resume on Monday with round 53, assuming there are no further weather delays.
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