The FCC 700 MHz Auction Results Podcast

Mike Q and I recorded "The FCC 700 MHz Auction Results" podcast today. Below are the show notes. You can listen directly by turning up your speakers and clicking here. If you have iTunes installed you can get this one, listen to others, and subscribe to our podcasts by following this link.

If you don't have iTunes and want to listen to other podcasts and read shownotes using your web browser, turn up your speakers and click here.

Shownotes:

Intro: On March 18, FCC Auction 73 bidding round 261 ended and, after 38 days and $19.592 billion in bids (almost double the $10 billion the FCC had hoped for), the FCC closed out the auction. In this podcast we review and discuss the auction results.

Mike: Gordon, can you give us an overview of the auction results?
Sure Mike - this comes from the FCC auction website linked up in the shownotes.

Rounds: 261 (started on 1/24 and ended on 3/18)

Bidding Days: 38

Qualified Bidders: 214

Winning Bidders: 101 Bidders won 1090 Licenses

Auction 73 concluded with 1090 provisionally winning bids covering 1091 licenses and totaling $19,592,420,000, as shown in the Integrated Spectrum Auction System. The provisionally winning bids for the A, B, C, and E Block licenses exceeded the aggregate reserve prices for those blocks. The provisionally winning bid for the D Block license, however, did not meet the applicable reserve price and thus did not become a winning bid. Accordingly, Auction 73 raised a total of $19,120,378,000 in winning bids and $18,957,582,150 in net winning bids (reflecting bidders' claimed bidding credit eligibility), as shown above.

Mike: Before we get into the auction results, can you give us an overview of the different spectrum blocks? I know we've done this before but - how about a quick refresher?
Sure Mike - this comes from a blog I wrote back on January 14.

Back in 2005 Congress passed a law that requires all U.S. TV stations to convert to all digital broadcasts and give up analog spectrum in the 700 MHz frequency band. This law will free up 62 MHz of spectrum in the 700 MHz band and effectively eliminate channels between 52 and 69. This conversion, which has a deadline of February 18, 2009, has freed up spectrum that is being split up by the FCC into five blocks:

• A-Block - 12 MHz, split up into 176 smaller economic areas
  
• B-Block - 12 MHz, split up into 734 cellular market areas
  
• C-Block - 22 MHz, up into 12 regional licenses
  
• D-Block - 10MHz, combined with approximately 10MHz allocated for public safety, a single national license.
  
• E-Block - 6 MHz, split up into 176 smaller economic areas

So in summary, each spectrum block in the 700 MHz auction, except for the national public safely D-Block, has been assigned an area designation by the FCC.
All FCC areas, along with names, county lists, maps and map info data can be found on the Commission's website linked here.

Mike: How about a quick review of the D-Block again?
Sure Mike, this also comes from that January 14 blog:

The D-Block lately has been most interesting to watch. Early on it appeared Frontline Wireless would be one of the biggest bidders for D-Block spectrum - the company was setup for D-Block and had worked closely with the FCC on putting together specifications for the spectrum. Frontline built a formidable team including Vice Chairman Reed Hundt, who served as Chairman of the FCC between 1993 and 1997. The business plan, the organization, the technology seemed to all be in place........ On January 12 the company placed the following statement on their website:

Frontline Wireless is closed for business at this time. We have no further comment.

Another company, Cyren Call also looked like they were planning to bid on the D-Block Auction but did not.

What happen? Rumor has it Frontline could not attract enough funders - it seemed like a good investment - or at least you may think so up front. Many are now asking if the FCC's approach to solving the public safety inter-operability problem is in trouble.

Mike: OK, how about the results?
Here's a summary from the Wall Street Journal:

Verizon and AT&T accounted for 80% of the nearly $20 billion AT&T agreed to pay $6.6 billion for 227 spectrum licenses in markets covering much of the country. Verizon Wireless, a joint venture of Verizon Communications Inc. and Vodafone Group PLC, won 109 licenses for $9.4 billion.

Dish Network Corp., which bid for spectrum through Frontier Wireless LLC, did acquire a significant footprint, winning 168 licenses throughout the country for $712 million. Satellite-TV providers are looking for a way into the high-speed Internet business to better compete with cable and phone companies. But Credit Suisse analyst Chris Larsen said in a research note that the particular segment of spectrum Dish acquired would make it difficult for the company to offer interactive wireless broadband service. He said the company could use the spectrum to broadcast data or for on-demand video.

Google had indicated interest in a nationwide package of licenses before the auction, but it bid just high enough to trigger rules that will force winners of one segment of spectrum, known as the C-block, to allow any mobile devices and applications on their networks. Verizon won the lion's share of spectrum in this segment. Google had pushed for the regulation since its efforts to sell some mobile services had been stymied by major carriers, which traditionally have strictly limited the kinds of devices that consumers could use on their networks. Even before the auction had wrapped up, Google scored a victory as Verizon voluntarily agreed to open its network to devices it doesn't sell through its own retail network. Verizon released details of its new policy on Wednesday.

Mike: Were there any licenses that dod not get any bids?
There were 1,099 licenses auctioned and only eight did not receive any bids:

A-Block:

Lubbock, Texas
Wheeling, W.Va.

B-Block:

Bismarck, N.D.
Fargo, N.D.
Grand Forks, N.D.
Lee, Va.
Yancey, N.C.
Clarendon, S.C.

Mike: So, what will happen to these?
These licenses will need to be re-auctioned by the FCC. I'm guessing they were over priced, the FCC will end up dropping the re-auction minimum bid and they will end up going quickly.

Mike: What's going to happen with D-Block?
The Public Safety D-Block did not meet the minimum bid and the FCC will have to decide what to do. It looks like the FCC could go one of two directions for the re-auction - drop the price or change the requirements.

From the start, the public safety D-Block auction was seen as one of the biggest auction challenges...... I've expressed my opinion on the D-Block in the past........ the FCC still has some major work ahead before they can close this one out.

This comes from InfoWorld:

On Thursday, the FCC voted to de-link the so-called D block from the rest of the auction results. The D block was a 10MHz block that was to be paired with another 10MHz controlled by public safety agencies, and the winning bidder would have been required to build a nationwide voice and data network to serve both public safety and commercial needs. But the FCC failed to receive its $1.33 billion minimum bid for the D block, with the lone $472 million bid coming from Qualcomm.

The FCC has no plans to immediately reauction the D block, a spokeswoman said. Instead, the agency "will consider its options for how to license this spectrum in the future," the FCC said in a news release.

Mike: So, it looks like the big carriers won?
For the most part, yes. Kevin Martin had an interesting quote in an EFluxMedia piece though:

"A bidder other than a nationwide incumbent won a license in every market," FCC chairman Kevin Martin said hinting that it’s possible for a "wireless third-pipe" competitor to emerge in every market across the U.S. This would increase the competition and the first one to benefit from it will be the consumer.

Things still could get interesting!

FCC 700 MHz Auction is Over..... Sort Of

Yesterday afternoon, FCC Auction 73 bidding round 261 ended and, after 38 days and $19.592 billion in bids (almost double the $10 billion the FCC had hoped for), the FCC closed out the auction.

Eight of the C-Block regional licenses had a reserve price of $4.6 billion that, when passed early in the auction (round 17), triggered an open access provision in the auction. This meant bidders could bid on individual C-Block licenses and, it appears the 12 C-Block licenses may be split up among bidders. Most experts are predicting Verizon and/or AT&T will take most of the C-Block while a smaller group still believes Google will be in the mix.

The C-Block provision requires the C-Block winner(s) to give access to any device compatible with the network’s chosen technology. This open access provision was pushed hard by Google and, whether Google is a winning bidder or not, Google will have access to this spectrum.

There were 1,099 licenses auctioned and only eight did not receive any bids:

A-Block:

Lubbock, Texas
Wheeling, W.Va.

B-Block:

Bismarck, N.D.
Fargo, N.D.
Grand Forks, N.D.
Lee, Va.
Yancey, N.C.
Clarendon, S.C.

These licenses will need to be re-auctioned by the FCC. I'm guessing they were over priced, the FCC will end up dropping the re-auction minimum bid and they will end up going quickly.

The Public Safety D-Block did not meet the minimum bid and the FCC will have to decide what to do. It looks like the FCC could go one of two directions for the re-auction - drop the price or change the requirements. House Telecom Subcommittee Chairman Edward Markey (D-Mass.) is quoted on the D-Block in a post by RCRWirelessNews:

“I believe that any new auction for the ‘D-block’ should be consistent with an overarching policy goal of advancing public-safety objectives and ultimately achieving a state-of-the-art, broadband infrastructure for first responders. In developing a plan for a re-auction of the ‘D-block,’ the FCC should also take into account the auction results to gauge the level of new competition achieved. Policymakers should also analyze whether a need for a high reserve price continues to exist. Moreover, I believe we must fully review the nature and authority of the public safety spectrum trust and whether this model should be retained or modified, the length of the license term, the build-out requirements and schedule of benchmarks for such build-out, the opportunities for ensuring further openness in wireless markets, the penalties associated with failure to fulfill license conditions, and other issues.”

From the start, the public safety D-Block auction was seen as one of the biggest auction challenges...... I've expressed my opinion on the D-Block in the past........ the FCC still has some major work ahead before they can close this one out.

700 MHz Spectrum Auction Update - Could Next Week be the Last Week?

Bidding round 102 came to a close yesterday afternoon with $19,524,595,900 (last week the auction finished at $19,450,389,100 - it is slowing) in total provisionally winning bids. Things have slowed considerably with only 40 new bids placed in round 102. For reference, on Thursday, each round averaged about 50 new bids.

Most active in the final round yesterday were E-Block licenses in the Bismark, North Dakota and Rapid City, South Dakota areas along with B-Block licenses in the southeastern United States.

The public safety D-Block still has not had a bid since the first round and will end up being re-auctioned by the FCC.

This may end up being the last week (an FCC decision but I'm thinking so). After the auction is closed the FCC will announce the winners.

FCC 700 MHz Auction Update - Feb. 16

I'm feeling better after a week with the flu - all I can say is next year I'm getting a flu shot!

I've been watching the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) 700 MHz auction fairly closely since it started on January 24. The 81st round finished yesterday (Friday - Feb. 15, 2008) afternoon - here's an update from the FCC auction site:

• Bidding Rounds to Date: 81
  
• Bid totals to Date: $19,450,389,100
• Activity is slowing with selected licenses in the B-block and E-block sections receiving most of the new bids.
  
• There has not been a C-Block bid on the U.S. 50 state package since it passed the FCC reserve price on Thursday, January 31. The current bid is still $4,713,823,000.
• The public safety D-Block has not had a bid in 80 consecutive rounds and is stuck at $472,042,000, still well below the $1.3 Billion reserve price set by the FCC.

Some personal observations and opinions:

• The FCC will likely be ending the auction soon. Before they do they'll probably increase the frequency of the bidding rounds to move things along - they've done this with prior spectrum auctions.
  
• Will C-Block bidding heat up in the final rounds? Most experts are saying no. I'm wondering if there may be a deep pocket bidder patiently waiting.
• The public safety D-Block is the FCC's biggest problem right now - the FCC will have to re-auction and the public-private partnership model I wrote about last month is looking like an interesting possibility.
  

Bidding is closed for the holiday weekend with round 82 starting Tuesday (Feb. 19, 2008) morning.

FCC 700 MHz Auction Update - Feb. 2

The 26th round finished yesterday (Friday - Feb. 1, 2008) afternoon - here's a quick update from the FCC auction site:

• Bidding Rounds to Date: 26
  
• Bid totals to Date: $18,554,080,600
  
• The A and B-Blocks have been getting most of the attention lately:
• The Los Angeles A-Block leads the A's with a current bid of $580,268,000.
• The Chicago B-Block leads the B's with a current bid of $892,400,000.
• There has not been a C-Block 50 state package bid since it passed the FCC reserve price on Thursday. The current C-Block 50 state package bid is $4,713,823,000.
• The public safety D-Block has not had a bid in 25 consecutive rounds and is stuck at $472,042,000, well below the $1.3 Billion reserve price set by the FCC.
• E-Block bidding has been slow with the New York City E-Block leading at $178,897,000.
• 23 licenses had not registered a bid at the end of round 26, 19 of these 23 are in the E-Block.
  

Some personal observations and opinions:

• It looks (to me anyways) like the C-Block bidding may be done. Since the FCC reserve price of $4.6 Billion has been passed, the open-access that Google wanted is assured. We won't know who the winning bidders are until after the auctions have closed but I'd say Google is the current leading C-Block bidder.
  
• Right now it does not look like the D-Block will meet the $1.3 Billion reserve price and will end up being re-auctioned by the FCC.
• A number of E-Block licenses will not meet minimum bids and will also be re-auctioned.
  
• The FCC had set an original goal of $10 Billion for the auction. With current bids totaling over $18 Billion, it appears the auction (from the FCC's perspective) will be a success.
  

Bidding is closed for the weekend with round 27 starting Monday (Feb. 4, 2008) morning.

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Read Show Notes and listen to Mike Q and my latest Podcast titled The FCC 700 MHz Spectrum Auction linked here.
Listen directly in your web browser by clicking here.
Podcasts also free on iTunes.
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Google Becomes a "Telephone Company"

Today the 700 MHz C-Block 50 state package auction closed over $4.7 billion, passing the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) reserve price of $4.6 billion. Passing the $4.6 billion mark is important because it assures this piece of spectrum will be sold under the current rules. This means the winning bidder will have to let devices from other carriers use the network.

Most believe the two companies bidding on this piece of spectrum are Google and Verizon. Regardless of who actually wins the bid - Verizon, Google or another company, Google will have access to the spectrum for their Android project. Android is what Google is calling the first complete, open, and free mobile platform, part of the Open Handset Alliance, a group of more than 30 technology and mobile companies who have come together to accelerate innovation in mobile and offer consumers a richer, less expensive, and better mobile experience.

The Open Handset Alliance group is committed to commercially deploy handsets and services using the Android Platform in the second half of 2008.

If the minimum bid of $4.6 billion had not been met, the FCC would have gone back, re-worked the rules, likely removing the open access piece, and then would have re-auctioned the C-Block. With the open access rule now locked in place, the success of Android is almost certain.

A day in history - January 31, 2008 - Google becomes a "telephone company".

Super Thursday: Let the Spectrum Auctions Begin!

I've written frequently in the last couple of weeks here about the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) 700 MHz band auction that officially kicked off today. USA Today has published an interesting article titled Google could cause a stir in FCC's airwaves auction and, in the article, some of the leading bidders and their likely strategies are listed.

Let's take a quick look at some of the major bidders (in alphabetical order) and their expected bidding strategies. For additional detail be sure to read the USA Today Article.

AT&T

AT&T already has more spectrum than any other carrier so bidding on the 700 MHz band will be used for further build-out. Many experts are speculating AT&T will focus primarily on the D-Block public-safety spectrum.

Cablevision, Cox, Advance/Newhouse, Bresnan

These cable companies are interested in spectrum to provide wireless services and compete with the large providers. Most experts believe they will be bidding on A-Block regional licenses in their service areas.

EchoStar

EchoStar is a satellite TV provider that is interested in using spectrum to provide wireless broadband access to its customers. Most experts do not feel EchoStar has the money to compete with companies like Google, At&T and Verizon in the auction.

Google

Google is the heavyweight here. The company wants to further expand into the cellular smartphone market and has the money to compete with the big providers. The company is expected to bid the $4.6 Billion minimum for the C-Block spectrum in the U.S.

Leap, MetroPCS,, Alltel

Like the cable companies (Cablevision, Cox, etc), these regional wireless companies will likely be bidding on A-Block regional licenses in their service areas. Experts also are speculating Alltel will bid on the public safety D-Block spectrum.

Paul Allen and Vulcan

Paul Allen's (co-founder of Microsoft with Bill Gates) investment company, Vulcan, already owns spectrum in Washington and Oregon.Vulcan may be bidding on some of the C-Block regional licenses or smaller A or B-Block regional licenses.

Qualcomm

The California based wireless manufacturer is looking for spectrum for its MediaFlo smartphone video service. Qualcomm will likely be bidding on E-Block regional licenses.

Verizon

Verizon will likely be bidding big on U.S. C-Block spectrum with plans to open their network to any (hardware and software) devices.

If you want to stay updated - the FCC Auction 73: 700 MHz Auction Summary page lists, among other things, results of the auction after each round.

The auction will likely last a couple of months so we won't know the winners until then. We should start to see products from the winning bidders that use the spectrum sometime next year.

FCC 700 MHz Spectrum Auction Areas

This week I've written about the upcoming Federal Communications Commission (FCC) 700 MHz auction and how the available spectrum is the result of a Congressional law passed in 2005. The law requires U.S. TV stations to convert to all digital broadcasts and give up analog spectrum in the 700 MHz frequency band. Today let's look at how the FCC is using area definitions to determine the spectrum blocks that will be auctioned.

With the definition of Cellular Market Areas in 1982, the FCC started assigning licensing areas based radio licenses, . According to the FCC, a common trait among most of these licensing areas is that every area is an aggregation of county-equivalent entities as defined in Federal Information Processing Standards Publication 6-4, 1990 August 31 . These data resource standards have bee put in place to avoid unnecessary duplication and incompatibilities in the collection, processing, and dissemination of data, so they make a lot of sense.

Each spectrum block in the 700 MHz auction, except for the national public safely D-Block, has been assigned an area designation by the FCC. Let's describe those areas included in the 700 MHz auction using FCC definitions.

Economic Areas

Both the A-Block (12 MHz) and the E-Block (6 MHz) are being auctioned using the Economic Area (BEA) service areas established by the Regional Economic Analysis Division, Bureau of Economic Analysis, U.S. Department of Commerce. Included are Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa and the Gulf of Mexico. There are a total of 176 Economic Area service areas designated by the FCC.

BEA services include General Wireless Communications Service (GWCS), Specialized Mobile Radio (SMR) and Location and Monitoring Service (LMS).

Cellular Market Areas

The B-Block (12 MHz) is being auctioned using the Cellular Market Area (CMA) service areas. The 734 CMAs are broken down as follows:

Areas 1-305: Created from the Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) defined by the Office of Management and Budget (1-305)

Area 306: The Gulf of Mexico
Areas 307-734: Rural Service Areas (RSAs) established by the FCC which do not cross state borders including parts of Puerto Rico not already in an MSA (723-729), U.S. Virgin Islands
(730-731), Guam (732), American Samoa (733), and Northern Mariana Islands (734).

CMA Services include Cellular Radiotelephone Service and Interactive Video and Data Service (IVDS)

Regional Economic Areas

The C-Block (22 MHz) is being auctioned using the 12 Regional Economic Areas (REAs) created by the FCC. The REAs are an aggregation of the 52 Major Economic Areas (MEAs) defined by the FCC.

REA Services include Wireless Communications Service (WCS)

All FCC areas, along with names, county lists, maps and map info data can be found on the Commission's website linked here.

FCC Spectrum Auction Bidding Procedure Summary

On Monday, the Federal Communications Commission released a public notice titled Auction of 700 MHZ Band Licenses. This document describes the bidding procedure for the 214 companies that have qualified for the auction, which will be handled by the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau (WTB). The WTB is one of seven FCC Bureaus and is responsible for all FCC domestic wireless telecommunications programs and policies.

Here's a summary outline of the procedure pulled from the 12 page FCC document:

1. Bidding in Auction 73 is scheduled to begin on Thursday, January 24, 2008.

2. Each qualified bidder will receive prior to January 24:
   
   • At least two RSA SecurID tokens
   • An Integrated Spectrum Auction System (ISAS) Bidder’s Guide
   • A FCC Auction Bidder Line phone number

3. The FCC will conduct the auction over the Internet and telephonic bidding will also be available. In either case, each authorized bidder must have his or her own SecurID token.

4. There will be a minimum opening bid amount for each license and package and the minimum opening bid amount is subject to reduction at the discretion of the WTB. The WTB will not entertain requests to lower minimum opening bid amounts.
   

5. The WTB has established the following block-specific aggregate reserve prices for Auction 73:
   

   • Block A, $1.807380 billion;
     
   • Block B, $1.374426 billion;
     
   • Block C, $4.637854 billion;
     
   • Block D, $1.330000 billion;
     
   • Block E, $0.903690 billion.

6. If, at the close of bidding in Auction 73, the aggregate reserve price for the A, B, C and/or E Blocks has not been met, the WTB will issue an announcement that bidding in Auction 73 is closed and set a date for commencement of Auction 76.

7. Round results will be available approximately 10 minutes after the close of each round. and two types of reports will be available to bidders: (a) publicly available information, and (b) bidder-specific information available only to that bidder when logged in to the FCC Auction System.

8. Each qualified bidder will have a default watchlist that contains every license and packages of licenses selected on the bidder’s short-form application. Qualified bidders may also create custom watchlists.

9. On Tuesday, January 22, the WTB will conduct a mock auction, which will allow qualified bidders to familiarize themselves with the FCC Auction System. Only qualified bidders will be permitted to participate in the mock auction.
   

10. Once winning bids are announced (either after Auction 73 or Auction 76) and winning bidders are announced, winning bidders will have 10 business days to file a long-form application (FCC Form 601) and make down payments for all of the licenses it won.
    

These are only highlights - please refer to the PDF document for details.

It will likely be early March before spectrum winners are announced by the FCC.

FCC Public Safety Spectrum Auction: A New Public-Private Partnership Model?

Yesterday morning I had an opportunity to speak with John Kneur, Rivada Networks' Senior Vice President for External Affairs, about emergency responder communications and the upcoming FCC Spectrum Auction. State homeland security officials have struggled for years with the inability of local emergency responders to communicate with each other and their federal counterparts during disasters. This inter-operability problem is so serious it has been identified as the number one concern of state homeland security officials in the National Governors Association 2007 State Homeland Security Directors Survey. Here's a quote from the report:

Public safety interoperable communications once again topped the list of homeland security advisors’ concerns in 2007 as states continue to work to ensure that first responders from various agencies, jurisdictions, and levels of government can speak to each other during emergencies or at the scene of a disaster. Increasingly, the campaign for interoperability has expanded beyond voice communications to encompass data and video interoperability as well.

I also wrote yesterday about the shutdown of Frontline Wireless and the decision by Cyren Call pull out of the D-Block Auction. With these two potentially top bidders gone, many are now wondering if the $1.3 billion reserve price on this piece of spectrum will be met by any bidder. As a result, the FCC may end up looking at alternative solutions from companies like Rivada Networks.

Rivada uses existing cellular networks and commercial off-the-shelf technology to deliver high-speed voice and data services over a network that can survive natural or man-made disasters. Right now Rivada is working with National Guard units in 11 states (Alabama, California, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Texas, and Washington). These units are installing new communications systems for voice and data services over a network that uses existing commercial infrastructure. Not relying on a single network makes a lot of sense when you consider communications survival during natural or man-made disasters.

According to a Rivada press release, the Louisiana Army National Guard decided last year to adopt their interoperable public safety communications system for the following reasons:

• Is available today,
• Does not require new spectrum allocation or depend on federal spectrum auctions or mandates, and
• Offers far greater range and capability at a fraction of the cost of other existing or planned technologies.

Rivada also supplements existing technology and infrastructure as needed by:

• Building new towers in areas without sufficient commercial infrastructure;
• Employing Rivada Interoperable Communications Extension Systems (ICES) – “fly-in” units capable of being deployed within hours – where existing infrastructure has been degraded or destroyed;
• Using proprietary backwards-compatible technology to provide full interoperability between cell phones, PDAs, laptops, landlines and traditional ‘walkie talkie’-type Land Mobile Radio (LMR) systems; and
• Combining all of these elements into an efficient network architecture.

Right now Rivada is not saying who they are making leasing agreements with but it seems like a safe bet to assume Verizon, Sprint and AT&T will be involved - it would be good revenue along with PR and advertising for the companies. In terms of the public safety personnel it makes a whole lot of sense because they would be able to use their day-to-day wireless devices in emergency situations.

The providers would build out, maintain and update the infrastructure....... I'm liking this kind of solution.

FCC Spectrum Auction - What's Going on with the Public Safety Block?

Back in 2005 Congress passed a law that requires all U.S. TV stations to convert to all digital broadcasts and give up analog spectrum in the 700 MHz frequency band. This law will free up 62 MHz of spectrum in the 700 MHz band and effectively eliminate channels between 52 and 69. This conversion, which has a deadline of February 18, 2009, has freed up spectrum that is being split up by the FCC into five blocks:

• A-Block - 12 MHz, split up into 176 smaller economic areas
  
• B-Block - 12 MHz, split up into 734 cellular market areas
  
• C-Block - 22 MHz, up into 12 regional licenses
  
• D-Block - 10MHz, combined with approximately 10MHz allocated for public safety, a single national license.
  
• E-Block - 6 MHz, split up into 176 smaller economic areas

I've written in the past about the upcoming January spectrum auction - each Block has a reserve price set by FCC and if a reserve price is not met in the auction, the FCC will end up re-auctioning that piece of spectrum.

The D-Block lately has been most interesting to watch. Early on it appeared Frontline Wireless would be one of the biggest bidders for D-Block spectrum - the company was setup for D-Block and had worked closely with the FCC on putting together specifications for the spectrum. Frontline built a formidable team including Vice Chairman Reed Hundt, who served as Chairman of the FCC between 1993 and 1997. The business plan, the organization, the technology seemed to all be in place........ On January 12 the company placed the following statement on their website:

Frontline Wireless is closed for business at this time. We have no further comment.

Another company, Cyren Call also looked like they were planning to bid on the D-Block Auction but did not.

What happen? Rumor has it Frontline could not attract enough funders - it seemed like a good investment - or at least you may think so up front. Many are now asking if the FCC's approach to solving the public safety inter-operability problem is in trouble. At the same time many are also asking "Is there a better way?"

I've always liked the idea of public-private partnerships and we've seen them work in times of disaster - last August I wrote here about the Minneapolis I-35 bridge collapse tragedy and how within minutes USI Wireless opened their subscription-based Wi-Fi service so anyone could use it for free. US Wireless didn't just stop there - because the network had only been built around part of the disaster, the company installed additional Wi-Fi radios in areas surrounding the catastrophe to blanket it with signals, providing an additional 12 megabits per second of capacity to the area around the bridge collapse.

A national network built from scratch may be too big of a bite though. Today I had an interesting conversation with Rivada Networks’ Vice President John Kneuer. Rivida uses existing cellular networks and commercial off-the-shelf technology to deliver high-speed voice and data services over a network that can survive natural or man-made disasters. I like the idea of using the existing commercial infrastructure for public safety for lots of reasons. I'll write tomorrow about Rivida's public-private partnership and technology approach.