We're sure that you've been following the FCC's blow-by-blow coverage of the AWS (Advanced Wireless Services) spectrum auction as closely as you would the "So You Think You Can Dance" competition, but just in case you've been busy for the last 161 rounds of bidding, we're here to let you know that the results are in and the winners have been crowned (assuming that they cough up the millions or billions of dollars they've pledged, that is). This wireless horse race has remained mostly unchanged for the last few dozen rounds -- after the DirecTV-Echostar consortium known as Wireless DBS
dropped out of the running, even
we mostly lost interest -- with T-Mobile finally emerging as the seemingly largest beneficiary. For a cool $4.1 billion (yes, that's billion with a "b"), the Mob picked up 120 licenses covering most of the US, a move that was essential for the company to kick-start its rather slow entrance into the 3G data game. Other big winners included Spectrum Co. and AWS Wireless, who picked up 137 and 154 licenses, respectively, along with Verizon (13 blocks covering most of the Eastern US) and MetroPCS, which snatched up 8 licenses in key areas such as Texas and Detroit. Overall, 104 bidders made it through the entire auction to pick up a grand total of 1,087 licenses, with the biggest winner of all being the good ole US government: the total amount of loot that was bid reached a staggering $13.7 billion, which is basically found money considering that everyone was simply battling over the right to use invisible radio spectrum. If you're at all interested in a more specific run-down of who got what and for how much, hit the Read link to check out the auction home page, where the FCC has thoughtfully posted about a million pages of charts, tables, and graphs laying it all out in excruciatingly boring detail.
[Via
MocoNews]
Sprint sure has been backing out of and sashaying into quite a few deals of late, and the schizophrenic trend is continuing as it opts out of SpectrumCo, one of two joint ventures with cable operators Comcast, Time Warner Cable (parent company of AOL, which owns Engadget), Cox Communications, and Brighthouse (Advance/Newhouse). Reportedly, the firm is still remaining a part of the Sprint/Cable venture (now known as Pivot) as it focuses on "integrating wireline and wireless services offered by the cable partners with itself." We're led to believe that Sprint simply had different plans for investing its capital, but it apparently sees value in hanging in there with the whole Pivot endeavor. Interestingly, when TWC's CEO was questioned over SpectrumCo's possible involvement in the forthcoming wireless auction, he casually proclaimed that "it would be inappropriate for him to make any comment on it one way or the other," but if you'll recall, it most certainly picked up a few licenses the last go 'round.
