After the fourteenth round of the 700 MHz auction, the FCC is within its minimum reserve range of $10 billion to $15 billion for total provisionally winning bids. The fourteenth round brought in more than 1,000 bids and the total for bids now stands at $10.2 billion.
The C Block of spectrum, which has open access rules attached to it, however has not yet reached its minimum reserve price of $4.6 billion: Its price tag currently stands at $4.3 billion. It is likely that it will reach the reserve price today, which means that Google's efforts to impose open access rules on the nationwide block of spectrum will stick.
Meanwhile, the D Block of spectrum continues to languish after receiving a single $472 million bid during the first round. The FCC set a minimum reserve price of $1.3 billion on that block, which would require the winning bidder to build out a public-private network with public safety officials.
For more on the auction:
- read our dedicated coverage here [1]
Links:
[1] http://www.fiercewireless.com/700-mhz-wireless-spectrum-auction