FCC speeds up bidding as 700 MHz auction draws to a close: Agency revs up action to 8 rounds per day

In an effort to bring the event to a close, the Federal Communications Commission announced that starting today the 700 MHz auction will speed up to eight rounds of bidding per day, up from six. The news, coupled with the slowly declining number of bids per round (16 in round 134 today), means the auction could come to an end early next week.
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Indeed, much of the auction’s action has come to a close. Bidding on the C and D Blocks appears over, and bids on the remaining E, A and B Blocks are waning. Industry watchers are anxious for the auction to close since the FCC will only release the identities of winning bidders at the end of the event. Big names, including Verizon Wireless, AT&T Inc. and Google Inc., are among the 214 entities approved to bid in the auction.
As for the action during the past few rounds today, a handful of A-Block bids have been scattered across the upper half of the country, while B-Block action remains sprinkled over parts of the Southeast and in Tehama County, Calif., where the provisionally winning bid in round 134 was $209,000. E-Block bids too were scattered across the West and Southeast.
The number of bids per round hovered at around 20 yesterday, but today dropped into the teens.