The Federal Communications Commission’s auction of H-Block spectrum licenses took a dramatic turn today as the number of bids shot through the roof following what seemed to be the a near end to the proceedings.
Following yesterday’s activity that witnessed bidding slow to just four new potential winning bids to end the day, new bids today were all over the board. What started out with just seven new bids in round 65 and five new bids in round 66 ballooned to 50 new bids in round 67, 45 new bids in round 68 and 57 new bids in round 69. Bidding calmed down a bit in the final two rounds with 37 new bids in round 70 and 29 new bids in round 29.
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Overall, $44 million in new potential winning bids were added during the seven rounds of bidding on Wednesday, pushing the auction’s total to $1.356 billion. That is still well short of the $1.56 billion Dish Network has pledged to pay for all of the licenses in a pre-auction agreement with the FCC. Dish is participating in the auction under the American H Block Wireless entity. Winning bidders will not be known until the auction concludes, which will happen when a round does not receive any new bids.
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All 23 bidders remained eligible through the end of the day’s bidding, with the North Platte, Neb./Colo., economic area license remaining the only one of the 176 total licenses up for bid to not have a valid bid. The auction is set to continue on Thursday with seven rounds of bidding.
Check out this video representations from Spectrum Financial Partners of how the bidding has progressed.
Any momentum gained on Wednesday will have to try and keep warm through Thursday as the FCC said it was suspending bidding due to “severe weather conditions.” This is the auction’s second weather delay.
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