As promised, the FCC released a list late Tuesday night of what turns out to be 266 potential applicants who are all seeking to bid in the upcoming 700 MHz auction scheduled for January 24. The FCC released no further information about how much each company will fork over to the government or even what portion of the 700 MHz spectrum they are bidding on, due to auction rules set up previously.
What's interesting about the list is the fact that more than half (170) of the potential bidders have "incomplete" applications at this point. Those companies include some big names too, like AT&T, Qualcomm, Alltel and Metro PCS. Verizon also apparently has paperwork issues to sort out before it is allowed to bid.
Google, a company that has already admitted it will be putting up at least $4.6 billion of its own money for the highly sought after "C" block, had its application accepted and is bidding under the name Google Airwaves. Other non-traditional players like Cablevision Systems, the fifth largest cable provider is the U.S., are also planning to bid. As we reported before, other major cable operators, like Comcast and Time Warner Cable, will not be participating in the auction, despite their rumored interest in "quadruple-play" bundles of high-speed data, telephony, TV and wireless.
The next step for these companies, according to the FCC, will be the submission of upfront payments by 6:00 p.m. ET on Friday, Jan. 4 -- pushed back from December 28. That means Google will be wiring at least $4.6 billion dollars at some point before January 4 to a government account at Mellon Bank in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The submission of these initial (or "qualifying") bids do not lock a company into bidding in the auction, however, should it decide to bow out.
Those with incomplete applications also have until Jan. 4 to resubmit their corrected applications along with their upfront bids. In addition to the revised upfront payment deadline, the mock auction has also been rescheduled to Jan. 22. The FCC auction is expected to raise at least $15 billion dollars, which the government will use to aid the national conversion to digital television. Some analysts are predicting the auction could bring in as much as $30 billion, however.
For more about 700-MHz spectrum, the auction and its implications, check out our 700-MHz F.A.Q.
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