AWS Auction Closes; T-Mobile Leads The Way

The Advanced Wireless Services spectrum auction has finished, grossing $13.9 billion for federal coffers. T-Mobile led at the end, dropping $4.2 billion for nearly nationwide 20 MHz coverage -- which will give it a significant boost. The company simply didn't have enough spectrum to roll out 3G services, letting its rivals race ahead, but it should now have plenty for the forseeable future. Verizon and Cingular also grabbed a lot of spectrum, even though they didn't necessarily need it, probably drawn in by the relatively low prices the auction was offering. The other big winners were the partnership between Sprint and some cable companies, and then limited-mobility providers Leap (the parent company of Cricket) and MetroPCS. The Sprint-cableco group's strategy still isn't very clear, given Sprint's strong 2.5 GHz holdings, which it will use for its WiMax network; Leap and MetroPCS are having a good measure of success in rolling out their unlimited-use local plans in various areas around the country, and this spectrum will help them expand. All in all, it looks like most of the big players got what they wanted, except for the satellite TV companies, which were an early casualty.
Hide this

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team

Filed Under: spectrum


Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread


  1. identicon
    Your Grammer about Your Grammar, 18 Sep 2006 @ 1:59pm

    Past tense of LEAD is LED

    the "lead" that sounds like "led" when you were writing eye-copy in ear-copy style only refers to the metal, and nothing to do with leading and following. if you're going to write news, at least learn how to write!

    link to this | view in thread ]

  2. identicon
    Carlo, 18 Sep 2006 @ 1:59pm

    Thanks for helpfully pointing out my typo. I particularly appreciate the friendly manner in which you did so.

    link to this | view in thread ]


Follow Techdirt
Essential Reading
Techdirt Deals
Report this ad  |  Hide Techdirt ads
Techdirt Insider Discord

The latest chatter on the Techdirt Insider Discord channel...

Loading...
Recent Stories

This site, like most other sites on the web, uses cookies. For more information, see our privacy policy. Got it
Close

Email This

This feature is only available to registered users. Register or sign in to use it.