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...used for an improved post--Sept. 11, post-Katrina emergency-broadcast system (yes, even better than those color bars and that weirdly aggravating tone). The rest of it went to the highest bidder: last year, in the biggest government auction of all time, rights to much of the 700-MHz spectrum--known to you and me as UHF channels 52 through 69--were sold off for an astounding $19 billion. Verizon and AT&T were the big winners. What they'll do with them is still anybody's guess...
...might not sound like the sexiest deal, but today the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) will auction off rights to the 700 MHz band of wireless spectrum - a sale that has the potential to create a seismic shift in the telecommunications landscape. The powerful band of prime cross-country airwaves, which is currently being used for analog TV broadcasts, is due to free up by February 2009 when TV goes fully digital. So, if ever a new telecom player were to carve out a piece of the lucrative nationwide wireless pie, now would be the time. "This is the last auction...
Once TV broadcasters have vacated the 700 MHz band for more efficient digital signals, which take up less bandwidth, the FCC will repurpose the surplus analog spectrum for wireless devices. The auction consists of five blocks of licenses to be sold off in pieces - ranging from rights to various regional networks to sprawling nationwide ones - each set at a minimum bid. The process could take weeks or even months and is likely to pull in about $15 or $20 billion for the federal government. Carriers wishing to offer new wireless services are currently running into spectrum shortages - one reason...
Most important, the 700 MHz spectrum is top-notch quality and has the power to carry lots of data, penetrate buildings with ease and travel great distances. "Its location is beachfront spectrum," says Bill Belt, senior director of technology at the Consumer Electronics Association. Data goes farther and faster without needing as many cell towers. "The fewer transmitter towers you have to build, the cheaper the network is and the cheaper your rates will be," says Craig Settles of Successful.com, which tracks the wireless industry. The result: Customers should see more complex services for streaming video on the go (think...
...they really want to get in the labor-intensive business of broadband networks? Already, startup Frontline Wireless, a venture supported by a group of Silicon Valley investors, has gone belly up, unable to secure funding for its intended bid on the discounted public-private D block of the 700 MHz spectrum that will share airwaves with public-safety responders. "I don't expect that the auction will result in a major new market entrant," says Michael Calabrese, director of the wireless future program at the New America Foundation, a Washington, D.C. think tank. "I think Verizon will end up bidding...