IP Democracy: AWS Bidding Starts Off Hot


spectrumissues.jpgThe FCC’s auction of AWS broadband spectrum kicked off yesterday, and the jockeying is already fascinating to watch. As Business Week’s Olga Kharif points out, it’s almost akin to watching a fist-fight among Chuck Dolan, Rupert Murdoch and Warren Buffett.

That’s because some major communications industry heavyweights are vying to grab the valuable but invisible real estate. Murdoch-backed Wireless DBS (a consortium that includes News Corp.’s DirecTV and DBS player EchoStar) led the second round, followed by T-Mobile, Spectrum Co, a consortium of cable operators, Dolan Family Holdings, which is affiliated with Cablevision Systems and Cellco Partnership, which represent Verizon Wireless.

The second round bids exceeded the first round bids by $165 million and it’s still early in the process before the bidding gets intense. But estimates that the auction could net the government between $8 billion to $15 billion could be conservative, as Khalif points out.

Below is a table of the top five second round bidders, courtesy of Pali Research.

Top Five Bidders - AWS Auction, Round 2
   
1. Wireless DBS 2. T-Mobile
(DirecTV, EchoStar) (Deutsche Telekom)
   
10mhz (301,551,422) 10mhz (71,670,933)
Bid/Pop: $0.55 Bid/Pop: $0.52
Per Mhz Pop: $0.05 Per Mhz Pop: $0.05
   
20mhz (99,149,196) 20mhz (84,582,116)
Bid/Pop: $1.19 Bid/Pop: $1.00
Per Mhz Pop: $0.06 Per Mhz Pop: $0.05
   
3. Spectrum 4. Dolan Family Holdings
(Comcast, Time Warner, Cox, Advanced Newhouse) (Cablevision)
   
10mhz (89,505,277) 10mhz (75,770,667)
Bid/Pop: $0.53 Bid/Pop: $0.58
Per Mhz Pop: $0.05 Per Mhz Pop: $0.06
   
20mhz (50,888,483) 20mhz (42,729,310)
Bid/Pop: $1.17 Bid/Pop: $1.06
Per Mhz Pop: $0.06 Per Mhz Pop: $0.05
   
5. Cellco Partnership  
(Verizon Wireless)  
   
20mhz (49,999,164)  
Bid/Pop: $1.25  
Per Mhz Pop: $0.06  
Source:  Pali Research.


Posted by Cynthia Brumfield on August 10, 2006 10:29 AM to IP Democracy