700 MHz Auction: Open Access Going Well; Public Safety Not So Much

The first week of the 700 MHz spectrum auction in the US has come to a close, with most blocks of spectrum being slowly bidded up but the D-Block — which is to build a network including public safety organizations — hasn’t seen a bid since the first one and remains at $472 million, well short of its $1.3 billion reserve price reports RCR News. “We caution against reading too much into this, as a bidder with sufficient remaining eligibility could still move in, but we see the prospects of the D Block meeting its reserve as declining,” noted firm Stifel Nicolaus. If the reserve price isn’t met, the FCC will have to decide what to do with the block, probably either sell it to the highest bidder for the price bid or strip it of its restrictions and re-auction it.

The C-Block — with its open access restrictions — is doing better and the winning bid currently sits at $1.792 billion, while the reserve price is $4.6 billion. That’s still got a way to go but Google (NSDQ: GOOG) is expected to push it up there…

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