FCC Auction for Advanced Wireless Services Spectrum (AWS1) is Underway
The FCC commenced its auction for Advanced Wireless Services licenses in the 1710-1755 MHz and 2110-2155 MHz bands (AWS-1). A total of 168 bidders were pre-qualified for the auction. During the first two rounds of the auction, conducted on Wednesday, the top ten bidders were:

• Wireless DBS (backed by DirecTV, News Corp, Fox, EchoStar, Rupert Murdoch, and EchoStar)
• T-Mobile
• SpectrumCo (backed by Comcast, Time Warner, Cox and Sprint Nextel)
• Dolan Family Holdings (holder in Cablevision)
• Cellco Partnership, dba Verizon Wireless
• Denali Spectrum License
• Cingular AWS
• Triad AWS
• Antares Holdings
• American Cellular Corp.

Daily results from the bidding are posting online.
http://wireless.fcc.gov/auctions/default.htm?job=auction_summary&id=66
Auction start date: 09-Aug-06

 

• AWS-1 bands are currently being used for a variety of Government and non-Government services and require relocating incumbent operations. The lower half of these paired frequencies, i.e., 1710-1755 MHz, is currently a Government band and is covered by a Congressional mandate that requires that auction proceeds fund the estimated relocation costs of incumbent federal entities. The upper half of these paired frequencies, i.e., 2110-2150 MHz band, is used by private (including state and local governmental public safety services) and common carrier fixed microwave services (“FS”). The 2150-2155 MHz band is currently used by the Broadband Radio Service (BRS).