AP Online
01-31-2001
Government Delays Wireless Auction
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The government postponed Wednesday an upcoming auction of lucrative wireless licenses, ideal for delivering new services like high-speed Internet access and streaming video to mobile phones and handheld computers.
The auction, scheduled for March, will be pushed back until September to allow potential bidders more time to prepare and plan, the Federal Communications Commission said.
The upcoming September auction involves licenses in the 700 MHz range, which are well-suited for offering the next generation of wireless services. That could enable companies to transmit over the airwaves Web access or video images at rapid speeds.
The agency just completed its largest auction to date Friday, taking in $16.86 billion for other airwaves licenses that should allow wireless companies to fill patches in their mobile phone coverage and add new services like two-way messaging.
But companies like Verizon Wireless, which shelled out $8.7 billion as the top bidder in the auction that closed last week, expressed concern about holding the two auctions so close together. In a letter to the FCC earlier this month, Verizon, the nation's largest wireless company, said businesses need more time to assess the market and their own plans before deciding whether and how to participate in another auction.
Verizon declined comment Wednesday. But the industry's top trade group said that companies need to take ``a quick breath'' before leaping into the next round of bidding.
Airwaves space ``is the most important resource in the world of wireless. We need it to match consumer demand and to prepare for the next generation of wireless services,'' said Tom Wheeler, head of the Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association.
The auction has been delayed several times by the agency, even though Congress had required that the airwaves licenses go on the block last year. For that reason, some members of the agency chided the decision.
``With each succeeding delay, the credibility of our spectrum and auction management policies becomes more suspect. All of these factors underscore the need for this delay to be the final chapter in this continuing saga,'' said Commissioner Harold Furchtgott-Roth.
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On the Net: Federal Communications Commission site: http://www.fcc.gov
Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association: http://www.wow-com.com
Verizon: http://www.verizon.com/
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