Aug 16, 2006 1:28 PM,

DBS companies drop out of AWS Auction

By Kevin Fitchard

DirecTV and EchoStar today bowed out of the Advanced Wireless Services auction after initially battling T-Mobile fiercely for nationwide licenses over which the mobile carrier wants to deploy a 3G network.

The two satellite providers' bidding venture, Wireless DBS, which includes Liberty Media, has been slowly withdrawing its stake in the auction since the first rounds. It finally withdrew its entire bidding stake today, losing its bidding stake of $972 million.

T-Mobile, however, has a new challenger for its nationwide licenses in the 1.7 GHz and 2.1 GHz bands. Verizon Wireless surged forward in the last few rounds, claiming the highest bid for Block F licenses, which span vast regional swathes of the U.S. and contain 20 MHz of spectrum as opposed to the 10 MHz Block D and Block E regional licenses. Verizon Wireless now has the highest bid for Block F licenses covering the Mississippi Valley, the Great Lakes Region, the Southeast and the most contested region of all, the Northeast, which holds the highest individual bid of $1.3 billion. T-Mobile has the winning provisional bid for the second most significant license Block F, spanning the West Coast as well as the central U.S. and Hawaii. It also is the most competitive bidder for 10 MHz Block D and Block E licenses in the Northeast and Great Lakes regions.

On the whole T-Mobile appears to be going after spectrum across the metropolitan market, metropolitan region and national areas, Verizon Wireless appears to be bidding solely for the larger regional licenses. It only has four provisionally winning bids, totaling $2.8 billion, while holding the advantage on 74 licenses for a total value of $2.6 billion.