104 entities on lists to participate in 600 MHz auction; Verizon, AT&T, Comcast and T-Mobile headline
Verizon Communications, AT&T, Comcast, T-Mobile US and NTT DoCoMo headline a list of companies that have officially made public their plans to participate in the Federal Communications Commission’s upcoming 600 MHz incentive auction set to begin March 29.
Those five telecom firms were some of the bigger names of the 69 entities on the FCC’s initial list of “complete applications” and 35 entities on the “incomplete applications” list released late last week tied to the forward auction aspect of the 600 MHz proceedings. AT&T was the most notable on the “incomplete” list, though with AT&T already having pledged to bid at least $9 billion in the proceedings tied to it garnering regulatory approval for its $48.5 billion acquisition of DirecTV, it’s likely to clear up its application prior to the beginning of the auction.
Other companies having thrown their hat into the bidding ring include Dish Network through the ParkerB.com Wireless bidding entity, which has also not applied for any designated entity bidding credits; Mexico-based América Móvil, which owns prepaid mobile virtual network operator and reseller Tracfone Wireless, looking to bid through the Puerto Rico Telephone Company; and regional telecom operators U.S. Cellular, Union Telephone Company, Plateau Telecommunications, the Pioneer-Nex-Tech Wireless- Rural Telecom Consortium and Cellular South, among others.
Also on the participation list is Social Capital Rama Spectrum Holdings, which is backed by former Facebook executive and founder of Silicon Valley’s Social Capital fund Chamath Palihapitiya, who last year touted plans to bid on spectrum in an attempt to become a new player in the domestic telecom market. Palihapitiya said at the time he thinks it would cost $4 billion to $10 billion to win enough spectrum to launch a wireless network.
Notable missing from the lists was SoftBank, which in recent weeks had been rumored to be looking at potentially participating in the spectrum auction. Sprint, which is nearly fully owned by SoftBank, announced last year it would not be participating in the auction proceedings.
The bidding process is set to begin with a reverse auction where television broadcasters will set the prices they are willing to accept for giving up their 600 MHz spectrum licenses. That process is expected to take up to two months, at which point the FCC will repackage those spectrum holdings into licenses that will be part of the forward auction process.
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