by Chris Nolter
[Posted on January 15, 2008 - 5:53 PM]
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DiggThe Federal Communications Commission on Monday introduced its list of qualified bidders for the agency's upcoming auction of wireless broadband licenses. The field of companies with wireless ambitions goes well beyond AT&T Inc., Verizon Communications Inc.'s mobile joint venture and Google Inc., which has forcefully lobbied for wireless networks to become more open.
"There are a lot of small and good-sized companies besides the big three," says Jim Wiesenberg, chief strategy officer of Space Data Corp.
Bidders range include cable companies such as Cox Communications Inc., Advance/Newhouse Communications Inc. and Bresnan Communications Inc., satellite provider EchoStar Communications Corp., and telecoms CenturyTel Inc. and Alltel Corp., the latter of which is backed by TPG and Goldman Sachs Capital Partners.
Meanwhile, venture capital firms M/C Venture Partners and Battery Ventures VIII LP are backing a new entity called Triad 700 LLC. Another emerging bidder is Bluewater Wireless LP, headed by Charles Townsend and Amos Hostetter. The two executives also run Aloha Partners LP, which agreed to sell AT&T spectrum worth $2.5 billion in October.
Space Data is not bidding. The company provides wireless communications services using weather balloons, rather than towers, which are more costly in remote areas. It has contracts with oil companies in western states and with the U.S. Air Force, and hopes to do business with carriers in areas where it is not economically feasible to build towers.
A conspicuous omission from the list is defunct Frontline Wireless LLC, a startup run by former FCC chief Reed Hundt with backing from VC investors John Doerr, James Barksdale and K. Ram Shriram. The company intended to bid for so-called "D-Block" spectrum, which will be used in coordination with an entity called the Public Safety Spectrum Trust Corp. for public safety transmissions.
The auction winner would build a network to use the spectrum and would generally have access to the wavelengths. However, in case of an emergency, transmissions by fire, police and other public safety workers would have priority.
Frontline had publicly targeted the D-Block, but said on Jan. 12 that it closed for business. "The reasons why Frontline was unable to raise the necessary funds, we believe, would similarly hamper other potential new
entrants," Stifel, Nicolaus & Co. analyst Blair Levin wrote following the announcement.
Levin, who was the FCC's chief of staff under Hundt, noted that AT&T or Verizon could pick up the spectrum for a lower price if Frontline is not bidding.
If another bidder does not emerge, the spectrum will be put up for auction again. However, the government has not said whether the previously outlined public safety restrictions would remain in place.
"It will be interesting to see if any other company will want to have to deal with the additional requirements that the FCC has imposed on the D-block winner," says attorney Theresa Cavanaugh of Davis Wright Tremaine LLP. "The FCC really wants to see the D block licensed." - Alain Sherter
For more see Voip-Facts.net and Techland
