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Bidding for a large chunk of prime US wireless spectrum ended on Tuesday with offers totalling $19.6bn underscoring the attractiveness of the 700 megahertz spectrum, which is likely to be used for mobile internet and other “4G” wireless services.
The total was at the top end of analysts’ projections that the auction would raise between $15bn to $20bn, making it the most lucrative spectrum sale staged by the Federal Communications Commission.
The FCC, which posted the auction results on its website on Tuesday, did not disclose details of the winners of the 1,099 licences on offer.
Analysts believe that it is likely that either AT&T, the largest US telecoms group, or Verizon Wireless, the mobile venture between Verizon Communications and Britain’s Vodafone, will emerge as the winner of the biggest swathe – a package of licences known as the “C-block” – that sold for $4.74bn.
Under the FCC rules, because the purchase price of the “C-block” was higher than a $4.6bn trigger, the winner must use the spectrum to build an “open network” and allow any legal mobile device to run on it.
Google, the internet search and advertising giant, had pushed for this rule along with consumer-advocacy groups arguing that open access provisions would spur competition.
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