Through this morning’s round 36, total bids in the Federal Communications Commission’s Auction 97 topped $37.8 billion with 256 new bids placed in the latest round totaling $356.7 billion. The Auction 97 licenses split up a total of 65 megahertz of spectrum in the 1.7/2.1 GHz bands – also known as the advanced wireless services-3 or AWS-3 band – with 50 megahertz set aside in paired bands typically used by mobile operators.
Over the past four rounds, bidders have tacked on $1.4 billion in new bids, further boosting the auction’s record haul. The 20-megahertz J-Block license centered on New York City continues to be the most expensive, with a pair of bids in the latest round boosting its total price to more than $2.4 billion. The 10-megahertz I- and H-Block licenses covering the same footprint as the J-Block, each received a new bid in round 36, pushing their total potential winning bids to $1.2 billion and $1.1 billion, respectively.
A pair of J-Block licenses centered on Los Angeles and Chicago did not receive any new bids in the latest round, but remain the second- and third-most expensive licenses in the auction at $1.96 billion and $1.24 billion, respectively. Five licenses now have potential winning bids in excess of $1 billion.
Nineteen licenses at the end of round 36 are still in possession of the FCC as they do not currently have a potential winning bid. Those licenses include a handful of G-, H- and I-Block licenses.
Winning bidders will not be announced until the auction ends.
The paired licenses up for bid include three 5×5 megahertz licenses (G-, H- and I-Blocks) and a single 10×10 megahertz license (J-Block). The G-Block licenses are carved into commercial market area-sized licenses, which total 734 licenses covering the country. The remaining blocks are economic area-sized that will total 176 licenses covering the country. The 15 megahertz of unpaired spectrum is split into two licenses, one with 5 megahertz of total spectrum parsed out on an EA basis, and the other with 10 megahertz of spectrum also in an EA configuration.
The FCC will hold just one more round of bidding today before taking a break for the Thanksgiving holiday. The auction is set to resume on Dec. 1 with four, one-hour rounds set to begin at 10 a.m. EST.
The auction is set to continue until there are no new bids placed in a round. Recent auctions lasted 167 rounds (H-Block), 261 rounds (700 MHz) and 161 rounds (AWS-1).
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