Update on the 700MHz auction: "C" block at $4.3 billion and rising

Here's some up to date 700MHz bidding news for you. Currently, bids on the hotly contested "C" block have risen to almost $4.3 billion, or just a few dollars away from the FCC's reserve price of $4.6 billion. That number puts us perilously close to triggering the "open-access rule" which pretty much everyone (Google especially) has been clamoring for (or fighting). The total bids on the spectrum are also hovering near the $10 billion mark, which has been the FCC's goal all along, ostensibly demonstrating that everything is going according to plan. There is one small snag, with the "D" block -- the public safety / first responder band -- not seeing the kind of action the agency had hoped for, nabbing only $472 million in bids, a far cry from the minimum requirement of $1.6 billion. Of course, bidding has six weeks to go, so no one seems to be sweating just yet, though "lawmakers" are swearing they'll take "quick action" if the numbers don't rise.

[Thanks, Aaron]

Read -- 700Mhz Auction Approaches $10 Billion
Read -- House Panel Bird-Dogging 700MHz Auction

[Flashpoint @ Jan 30th 2008 1:39PM]

I'm going to wait till there's 20 seconds left and then put in a $6.1 Million Bid !

[Kevo @ Jan 30th 2008 1:58PM]

Exactly! I was wondering why they're surprised that the bids are low. Why would a company place a bid early and let competitors obtain new/more financing? Just throw down your bid in the last half hour and leave everyone else screwed.

[SteveMB @ Jan 30th 2008 1:51PM]

OMG BID SNIPER!!!!11

[Ipaq3115 @ Jan 30th 2008 2:23PM]

Ya haven't these people bought stuff on Ebay before...?

[Josh Warner @ Jan 30th 2008 2:58PM]

You do realize that we're dealing with Billions, not Millions, of dollars here? And that those two units are three orders of magnitude different?

[Bill Koslosky, MD @ Jan 30th 2008 1:48PM]

There's a reason for the stalled D-block auction. Some are suggesting Cyren Call's undo influence in killing the Frontline bid has tainted the auction:
http://billkosloskymd.typepad.com/wirelessdoc/2008/01/controversy-ove.html

Scroll down to the link to Harold Feld's post.

[evan @ Jan 30th 2008 2:31PM]

could someone tell me what it means to the average american when someone actually buys this damn thing!

[Superevil @ Jan 30th 2008 2:44PM]

I think it has something to do with wireless devices like cell phones being used on what was formally the old analog tv wavelength.

[pushplay @ Jan 30th 2008 8:42PM]

hey i tried to reply to you but i screwed it up. sorry mate. but check my comment on the bototm

[ark_v2 @ Jan 30th 2008 2:34PM]

Go Google!!!! I believe in you!
I don't care if you conquer the world!!!

[Constable Odo @ Jan 30th 2008 3:07PM]

Apple could afford buy the whole C-Block and parcel it out to whoever they'd want to share it with. They'd have a lock on high-end smartphones. Adios carriers. Google will probably get it. I'm surprised that Microsoft doesn't try to bid for it. They'd make a killing.

[Nathan @ Jan 30th 2008 4:51PM]

I don't think Google actually wants the spectrum, they just want the bid to exceed 4.6 Bil. so they can get their devices on the network that will be built up around the C Block.

Apple doesn't want to have a nationwide network, they want to make the handsets that are used on networks, they are a hardware manufacturer not a telco or a network opperator.

MS makes software for devices that can use this spectrum, they really shouldn't be interested in doing a nationwide rollout of a wireless netowork.

[angryblueweasel @ Jan 30th 2008 7:26PM]

I'm a bit late in commenting on the 700MHz game, but people in San Diego (And other international borders) are going to pissed when their devices don't work. Other countries use the 700MHz frequencies for other things. For example, Mexico uses it for taxi communication systems, and as far as I know (it's been a while since I had to deal with this) there are no treaties covering this. It's not a big deal, unless you live in So Cali or Texas.

[Murc @ Jan 30th 2008 5:19PM]

what does the whole "open access" thing completely mean?

As far as what I think I know, it means that carriers cant have it on lockdown, meaning any cell phone and cell phone OS, can work on any one elses service plan. is that right?

[Neil Stone @ Jan 30th 2008 6:37PM]

So how much money would ebay be getting out of bids like these?

[pushplay @ Jan 30th 2008 8:41PM]

For someone who asked about what this means for the average american:

Basically since the popularity of regular transmit analog tv is losing ground, the government wants to make a buck. So they are forcing TV to not use so much of the spectrum, by making them compress to DTV channels (which is better in the long run for us anyway). So then for us:

These frequencies are much lower than the freq cellphones are using right now. The lower the frequencies, basically, the easier they are to transmit over long distances. So if they are "open" frequencies, like the bluetooth and wifi frequencies, anybody and their mom can get a license (for MORE money) from the FCC and manufacture a device to use them.

SO expect to see something like "wifi everywhere", but of course it wouldn't be "wifi" 802.11 type frequencies at all. It would be in this new range.

It can get really complicated, there are LOTS of possibilities.

[Keith @ Feb 5th 2008 9:45PM]

Why would we sell the "D" block spectrum of emergency services? This spectrum should be completely reserved for emergency services, no questions asked! No money, its theirs! Look, at 911, the biggest complaint from the emergency services that day was communications and lack of it... Some things money just can't buy! k