The US government has been auctioning wireless spectrum, which has aroused more interest than usual because Google decided to bid (though, as it turned out, it wasn't bidding to win). Either way, the winners and losers have now been announced. And according to AP:
AT&T Inc and Verizon Wireless, the nation's two biggest cell phone carriers, bid a combined $16 billion of the record $19.6 billion pledged in the auction, according to an AP analysis of the results. Verizon Wireless bid $9.4 billion while AT&T Inc bid $6.6 billion.
Verizon Wireless -- a joint venture with the UK's Vodaphone Group -- "won nearly every license in the consumer-friendly C block." But not everything went to the titans. AP says: "One new entrant, however, Frontier Wireless LLC, which is owned by EchoStar Communications Inc, won nearly enough licenses to create a nationwide footprint."
There's an official statement from the FCC (PDF).
A separate AP story says Losing Wireless Battle May Be Google Win, adding:
Google arguably would have been in an even better position in the mobile market if it controlled its own wireless network, especially one with the potential power the C block figures to offer. The 700 megahertz spectrum, to become available in February 2009, is expected to provide better wireless access because the frequencies travel long distances and easily penetrate walls.
But the time and money that would have had to be invested in the C block probably would have represented another millstone on Google's sagging market value, which has already plunged by $80 billion, or 37 percent, so far this year.
