AT&T and Verizon Wireless ended up being the big winners as they were announced the two biggest spenders at the FCC 700Mhz spectrum auction. Prior to the conclusion of the auction, Google seemed to be a rumored big spender but in the end it seems that they were only bidding to simply guarantee the Open Access standards they needed for their own plans. The auction ended after 260 rounds and lasting almost 2 months (began Jan 24), but when you spend $16 billion I am sure that time felt like an eternity.
The biggest nationwide block of the spectrum is held by Verizon Wireless after topping off Google’s bid of $4.71 billion, by upping the anty to $4.74 billion. Among Verizon’s other winnings in the auction were 25 regional licenses, but the real winner in licenses was AT&T who walked away with 227. Recently AT&T acquired a large piece of the 700 megahertz spectrum when it paid out $2.5 billion for Aloha Partners, so although Verizon did damage on the auction block, it will not reduce the competition between the number 1 and 2 carriers.
[via Reuters]
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