Round 13 of the FCC’s 700 MHZ spectrum auction saw a new high bid of nearly $4.3 billion this morning. That’s up $500 million from Round 12’s high bid of about $3.8 billion Tuesday evening, but continues to be short of the $4.6 billion reserve price for the C Block of nationwide licenses.
There were no new bids in Round 14 for the C or D Blocks. The latter block is also a nationwide license but must be shared with emergency services. As with yesterday’s rounds, it remains at the relatively low amount of $472 million.
Round 15 begins at 2 p.m. EST. Its minimum accepted bid is $4.8 billion – exceeding the reserve price. At the current pace of bid increments from recent rounds, it’s possible that the reserve will be met today or tomorrow, but as with any auction the bidding will continue until there are no higher offers.
All of the other new bids in Rounds 13 and 14 were for the dozens of area and regional blocks, mostly focusing on states and metropolitan areas.
Filed Under: Infrastructure