AWS auction kicks off

The Advanced Wireless Services spectrum auction officially began this morning, as a mixed bag of mobile operators, investors and cable companies all entered the first round of a bidding for the spectrum that could make or break the next 3G network in the U.S.

T-Mobile is considered the most eager bidder with its UMTS plans riding on the auction’s outcome, but it’s joined by competitors Cingular Wireless, Verizon Wireless and Sprint, as well as handful of cable operators looking to establish a wireless presence, some satellite TV competitors and Wall Street speculators like Mario Gabelli, who qualified as bidder despite being fined by the FCC for allegedly rigging bids in the past.

The auction could raise more than $15 billion, and even before the bidding started the FCC has collected $4.3 billion in payments to guarantee bidding spots. EchoStar and DirecTV have formed a consortium called Wireless DBS and shelled out almost $1 billion to land the top bidding slot. Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Cox Communications and Advance/Newhouse Communications are teaming up with Sprint to jointly bid for spectrum that presumably would be applied to the companies’ cable venture announced last year.

On the block are more than 1100 licenses covering 90 MHz of spectrum in the 1.7 GHz and 2.1 GHz frequencies, all sliced into different pieces. The licenses range from 5 MHz to 20 MHz and some cover whole regions of the country, while others are limited to particular markets. Though bidding started today it’s expected to continue for weeks, possibly to the end of the quarter.

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