Bid

Videocon woos Motorola's handset biz

Sue Marek — Fri, 23 May 2008 10:54:43 -0400

Indian consumer electronics heavyweight Videocon says that it is engaged in talks with Motorola to buy the U.S. company's handset business. Videcon, which makes air conditioners, refrigerators and other products, said earlier this year that it wanted to manufacture mobile phones to support its telecom businesses. It also said in early April that it planned to make a bid for Motorola's business.

Motorola announced earlier this year that it was planning to separate its handset business from its other operations. Analysts say that Motorola's handset business is worth about $3.8 billion. The firm's handsets make up about 15 percent of the global market for wireless handsets.

For more:
- see this Business Standard story

Related stories:
Videocon to bid for Motorola's handset biz. See this Motorola story.
What will happen to Motorola's handset division? See this Motorola story.

Report: Sprint considers Nextel spin-off

Tue, 06 May 2008 06:59:58 -0400

Yesterday, the rumor mill claimed that T-Mobile USA parent company Deutsche Telekom was mulling a bid for Sprint Nextel. Now a report in the Wall Street Journal says Sprint is considering a plan to spin-off or sell its Nextel unit. The report, however, claims that no particular deal is forthcoming, the consideration comes during a strategic review process, which could mean the carrier is just reviewing its options. One of the options is selling the Nextel unit back to a group of investors organized by Nextel co-founder Morgan O'Brien, who now runs public safety company Cyren Call. Current valuations of Nextel put it at between $5 billion and $16 billion, far less than the $35 billion Sprint spent in 2005 to acquire it.

For more on the rumored spin-off:
- read this report from the WSJ (sub. req.)

Report: Lease payments tanked D Block auction

Mon, 28 Apr 2008 06:59:57 -0400

A report from the FCC inspector general concluded that the requirement for lease payments of about $500 million contributed to the failure of the D-block auction. No serious bidders emerged for the spectrum, which was reserved for a public-private partnership that would give first responders a national wireless broadband network.

The inspector general's report was based on interviews with FCC staffers, public safety and companies such as Frontline Wireless--which had planned on bidding for the spectrum but couldn't raise enough money. The report concluded that demand from public safety, via Cyren Call, which was appointed to manage negotiations, discouraged bidding. The report also called into question the commercial viability of such a public-private partnership given the way the FCC constructed the rules for the band.

According to the report, "Cyren Call's statements regarding a $50 million-per-year payment was not the deciding factor in Frontline's decision not to bid on the D-Block, but was merely one of many concerns it had regarding the auction." -Lynnette

For more about the inspector general's report:
- check out this article from Dow Jones

Related articles:
Cyren Call says it's not to blame for Frontline's end. D-block report
Frontline closes doors; D-block auction in question. Report on Frontline

Google admits it never intended to win spectrum

Fri, 04 Apr 2008 07:59:57 -0400

Now that the 700 MHz auction winners are revealing their plans for the spectrum, Google is admitting it bid in the auction but never really intended to win the spectrum.

Instead, in a corporate blog, Google lawyers say that Google's game plan was to make sure that bidding on the C block reached the $4.6 billion reserve price that would trigger the important open access conditions. "We were also prepared to gain the nationwide C block licenses at a price somewhat higher than the reserve price; in fact, for many days during the early course of the auction, we were the high bidder. But it was clear, then and now, that Verizon Wireless ultimately was motivated to bid higher (and had far more financial incentive to gain the licenses)."

For more, see this article from TheStreet.com.

Related stories:
Is 'open network' just marketing hype? Editorial
Verizon, AT&T big winners in 700 MHz auction Article
FierceWireless' special coverage of the 700 MHz auction Coverage

Videocon to bid for Motorola's handset biz

Tue, 01 Apr 2008 07:59:58 -0400

One week after Motorola CEO Greg Brown announced plans to spin-off Motorola's handset business, the chairman of India's Videocon said that the company will make a bid for Motorola's business. "We will be bidding for Motorola's handset business, but at this point of time I cannot give out the price or the value of the bid," Chairman Venugopal Dhoot of Videocon told Dow Jones Newswires in an interview.

The broad strokes of Motorola's strategy are simply to spin-off the handset business to create two independent and publicly traded companies: Mobile Devices and Broadband & Mobility Solutions, which describes the enterprise business and the home networking business. Brown said the hunt is still on for a handset unit head, but now the position will come with a CEO title. Motorola plans to make the move some time in 2009--that is, if a buyer doesn't come along in the meantime.

For more on the Videocon bid:
- read this report from Dow Jones

U.K. gives Nokia another win against Qualcomm

Mon, 03 Mar 2008 06:59:57 -0500

After losing a ruling from the ITC in the U.S. last week, Qualcomm has lost another bid to prove Nokia infringed on its patents in the U.K. The U.K. High Court ruled that Nokia had not infringed on two of Qualcomm's patents that relate to GSM technology standards. Qualcomm filed 11 lawsuits around the world against Nokia during the past two years, but has yet to win any legal action against the company, according to a report from the Wall Street Journal.

"We are pleased with the Court's decision that the patent claims are invalid and believe it is consistent with and supported by the facts," said Nokia CFO Rick Simonson. "This is the second court to conclude that Qualcomm does not have relevant and valid GSM patents."

For more on the court decision:
- read this article from the WSJ

ROK drops bid to acquire MVNO Xero Mobile

Fri, 29 Feb 2008 06:59:57 -0500

For the past 14 months MVNO Xero Mobile has planned to launch mobile services in the U.S. that were either free or cheap because of ad-support, but no services were ever launched. Recently ROK Entertainment announced its intent to acquire the MVNO, but the company has now dropped its bid on the MVNO. ROK is a U.K.-based mobile media company centered on on-demand mobile video.

For more on the fate of Xero:
- read this press release from ROK

Related Articles:
SEC probes Xero Mobile. Article
Xero Mobile appoints Allen Brown CEO. Article

ALSO NOTED: LiMo handsets, members; AOL's open mobile platform; and much more...

Mon, 11 Feb 2008 06:59:50 -0500

> LiMo foundation unveils handsets and adds members. Article

> AOL's Open Mobile platform on tap for this summer. Article

> Openwave launches online contextual advertising network. Article

> Trolltech integrates QT framework with WebKit. Article

And Finally... Yahoo formally rejects Microsoft's bid. Article

700 MHz Auction: C Block split up again at$4.74B

Tue, 05 Feb 2008 06:59:55 -0500

The total bids on the eight regional slices of the C Block have once again topped the national package, which means anywhere from one to eight bidders could be sitting on a provisionally winning bid for a piece of the C Block. The total winning bids for the open access C Block now stands at just over $4.74 billion. As of the 32nd round, a bidder would have to bid just under $5 billion in order to top the latest bid.

While the 700 MHz auction has already been dubbed the most lucrative spectrum auction in the history of the FCC, bidding seems to have slowed down. During the 32nd round of bidding, provisionally winning bids only added about 0.1 percent more or $19.6 million to the total provisionally winning bids, which now stand at $18.9 billion. The auction ends when no new bids come in. In the immortal words of the late-nineties R&B group, C-Block, "time is ticking away" (for new bidders).

For more on the auction:
- see our dedicated auction coverage here

FCC: 700 MHz Auction to raise more than any other

Fri, 01 Feb 2008 06:59:55 -0500

After 23 rounds of bidding, the 700 MHz auction has brought in nearly $17 billion in provisionally winning bids, a total that exceeded FCC expectations. Originally, the FCC expected total winning bids to fall between $10 billion and $15 billion. The commission needed to ensure that the auction raised at least $10 billion because Congress had already allocated that much of the proceeds from the auction. The $6.9 billion (and counting) leftover is profit for the Treasury Department.

"It will probably exceed any other auction that we have had in the past," FCC chairman Kevin Martin said at a press conference yesterday.

During the 17th round yesterday morning, the C Block of spectrum met its reserve price of $4.6 billion with a bid that topped $4.7 billion. Meeting that target ensured that the open access provisions on the block will go into effect. The D Block, however, continues to languish with only one $472 million bid from the first round of bidding last week. The question remains: Now that the FCC has met and exceeded its overall reserve price for the auction, will the D Block have to meet its $1.33 billion reserve price? Or did one bidder get an incredible deal?

For more on the auction:
- read our continuously updated coverage here
- also read this interview with Skype's Chris Libertelli about the auction results

FEATURE: On the Hot Seat: Skype's Chris Libertelli

Fri, 01 Feb 2008 06:59:53 -0500

FierceWireless: The C Block of spectrum hit its reserve price of $4.6 billion today, which means that the open access rules the FCC implemented will stick. Google, Skype and others were instrumental in getting the open access fight. How do you feel about today's development?

Libertelli: There was a question about whether the open access provisions would depress the value of the spectrum and I think this morning's activity showed that the markets had fewer reservations about the reserve than a lot of the critics who lobbied the FCC did. It was, I think, a very, very positive decision that the commission came up with last July in the face of some pretty stiff lobbying by wireless incumbents. This represents the best tradition of FCC decision-making. I'm not so surprised that the companies would eventually recognize that wireless Carterphone and open access is in the best interest of consumers and the network providers and companies like Skype that build applications for wireless networks, but maybe it was just a matter of the individual players thinking through business models and then coming up with things like the bid that we saw this morning.

FierceWireless: Currently the C Block has not garnered a bid after the one that pushed it over its $4.6 billion reserve price. Do you think that indicates that there was just one bidder--like Google--since the company promised the FCC that it would drive the spectrum block's price tag up past that reserve price?

Libertelli: Well... Read More

700 MHz Auction: C Block meets reserve

Thu, 31 Jan 2008 06:59:57 -0500

After a couple rounds of stalled bidding, the C Block's provisionally winning bid is now at $4.7 billion, about $100 million over the reserve price that the FCC set for the block of spectrum. Since the reserve price was met, the FCC will not have to re-auction the block and its special rules: open access for any device and any application will have to be implemented on the winning bidder's future 700 MHz network. If the price of the provisionally winning bid goes up in the next or subsequent rounds, then it is clear that there is more than one bidder for the C Block. It was possible up until this point that Google was bidding on the C Block to drive it up past the reserve price, in order to ensure that the open access rules came to fruition.

As has been the case since the first round of bidding, bidders won't touch the D Block with a ten foot pole. The public-private network provision on the spectrum block, which requires the winning bidder to help public safety officials construct and operate a wireless network for homeland security, has only received one bid. The $472 million provisionally winning bid, however, is only about a third of the $1.33 billion reserve price that the FCC set for the D Block. The only chance the D Block has at this point is for the loser of the C Block (if there is more than one company bidding on it) to snap up the D Block as its consolation prize.

Total provisionally winning bids now stand at $13.7 billion, which is on the higher end of the FCC's hoped for $10 billion to $15 billion target. -Brian

Click here for the latest news roundup for the 700 MHz Auction.

700 MHz Auction: Round 12 pushes C Block to $3.8B

Brian Dolan — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 17:02:15 -0500

Round 12: The provisional total of all bids in the FCC's 700 MHz auction stands at $8.7 billion at the end of the day Tuesday andÃ‚Â afterÃ‚Â twelve rounds of bidding. Provisionally winning bids increased the total by more than $820 million during theÃ‚Â twelfth round. The C Block of spectrum attractedÃ‚Â a new bid in the round that brought its provisionally winning total to $3.8 billion.Ã‚Â That is close to the $4.6 billion reserve price that the FCC implemented, andÃ‚Â the next round requires a minimum bid of justÃ‚Â underÃ‚Â $4.3 billion. Chances are that block of spectrum will meet its reserveÃ‚Â price if it gets two more bids.Ã‚Â If the C Block does not meet its reserve price, the FCC will probably re-auction it.Ã‚Â

As has been the case for the pastÃ‚Â eleven rounds, the D Block continues to hold steady at $472 million. Only one bidder bid on the D Block in the first round, while no one has bid on it since. The FCC set a reserve price of $1.3 billion for the D Block. -Brian

700 MHz Auction: Round 11 sees no new bids for C or D Blocks

Brian Dolan — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 14:56:29 -0500

Round 11: The provisional total of all bids in the FCC's 700 MHz auction stands at $7.8 billion afterÃ‚Â eleven rounds of bidding. Provisionally winning bids increased the total by more than $450 million during the eleventh round. The C Block of spectrum, however, did not garner a new bid in the eleventh round so itÃ‚Â isÃ‚Â still at a provisionally winning bid ofÃ‚Â $3.4 billion. While that is close to the $4.6 billion reserve price that the FCC implemented, the next round only requires a minimum bid of $3.8 billion so it's unlikely that the block will hit its reserve in the next round. If the C Block does not meet its reserve price, the FCC will probably re-auction it.Ã‚Â

As has been the case for the past ten rounds, the D Block continues to hold steady at $472 million. Only one bidder bid on the D Block in the first round, while no one has bid on it since. The FCC set a reserve price of $1.3 billion for the D Block. -Brian

700 MHz Spectrum Auction Round Ten Top Results

Mike Dolan — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 13:15:27 -0500

Package/ License	Bidding Units	Bid Round	PWB Amount	Minimum Bid for Round 11	New Bids
C BLOCK Package 50 States REAGs 1 - 8	281,116,000	10	$3,379,984,000	$3,863,903,000	1
Package Atlantic REAGs 10 & 12	884,000	Ã‚Â	Ã‚Â	$1,188,000	0
Package Pacific REAGs 9 & 11	62,000	Ã‚Â	Ã‚Â	$316,000	0
D BLOCK WP-NWA511-D Nationwide	128,210,000	1	$472,042,000	$519,292,000	0
WU-REA001-C Northeast	52,530,000	Ã‚Â	Ã‚Â	$686,701,000	0
WU-REA002-C Southeast	48,639,000	Ã‚Â	Ã‚Â	$465,425,000	0
WU-REA003-C Great Lakes	57,568,000	Ã‚Â	Ã‚Â	$1,320,616,000	0
WU-REA004-C Mississippi Valley	28,742,000	Ã‚Â	Ã‚Â	$455,615,000	0
WU-REA005-C Central	39,958,000	Ã‚Â	Ã‚Â	$354,683,000	0
WU-REA006-C West	51,966,000	Ã‚Â	Ã‚Â	$568,347,000	0
WU-REA007-C Alaska	528,000	Ã‚Â	Ã‚Â	$4,056,000	0
WU-REA008-C Hawaii	1,185,000	Ã‚Â	Ã‚Â	$8,460,000	0
WU-REA009-C Guam, Northern Mariana Islands	49,000	10	$252,000	$302,000	1
WU-REA010-C Puerto Rico, US Virgin Islands	862,000	1	$862,000	$948,000	0
WU-REA011-C American Samoa	13,000	1	$13,000	$14,000	0

Sixth Round of the 700 MHz Auction Top Results

Mike Dolan — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 13:23:11 -0500

Below are the top results from the sixth round in the 700 MHz auction.

Click here to see the rest of our coverage.

Package/ License	Bidding Units	Bid Round	PWB Amount	Minimum Bid for Round 7	New Bids
C Block Package 50 States REAGs 1 - 8	281,116,000			$2,554,389,000	0
Package Atlantic REAGs 10 & 12	884,000			$1,046,000	0
Package Pacific REAGs 9 & 11	62,000			$160,000	0
D Block WP-NWA511-D Nationwide	128,210,000	1	$472,042,000	$519,984,000	0
WU-REA001-C Northeast	52,530,000	6	$441,570,000	$529,884,000	1
WU-REA002-C Southeast	48,639,000			$153,999,000	0
WU-REA003-C Great Lakes	57,568,000	6	$591,385,000	$691,385,000	1
WU-REA004-C Mississippi Valley	28,742,000	6	$241,365,000	$289,638,000	2
WU-REA005-C Central	39,958,000			$100,035,000	0
WU-REA006-C West	51,966,000	6	$683,894,000	$783,894,000	1
WU-REA007-C Alaska	528,000	5	$1,906,000	$2,287,000	0
WU-REA008-C Hawaii	1,185,000	4	$2,799,000	$3,267,000	0
WU-REA009-C Guam, Northern Mariana Islands	49,000	6	$122,000	$146,000	2

Fifth Round of 700 MHz Auction Top Results

Mike Dolan — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 11:49:10 -0500

Package/ License	Bidding Units	Bid Round	PWB Amount	Minimum Bid for Round 6	New Bids
C BLOCK Package 50 States REAGs 1 - 8	281,116,000	5	$2,151,288,000	$2,564,766,000	1
Package Atlantic REAGs 10 & 12	884,000			$1,024,000	0
Package Pacific REAGs 9 & 11	62,000			$136,000	0
D Block WP-NWA511-D Nationwide	128,210,000	1	$472,042,000	$520,721,000	0
WU-REA001-C Northeast	52,530,000			$441,570,000	0
WU-REA002-C Southeast	48,639,000			$415,551,000	0
WU-REA003-C Great Lakes	57,568,000			$591,385,000	2
WU-REA004-C Mississippi Valley	28,742,000			$241,365,000	2
WU-REA005-C Central	39,958,000			$183,657,000	0
WU-REA006-C West	51,966,000			$683,894,000	2
WU-REA007-C Alaska	528,000			$2,811,000	1
WU-REA008-C Hawaii	1,185,000			$4,533,000	0
WU-REA009-C Guam, Northern Mariana Islands	49,000	5	$102,000	$122,000	2
WU-REA010-C Puerto Rico, US Virgin Islands	862,000	1	$862,000	$951,000	0
WU-REA011-C American Samoa	13,000	1	$13,000	$14,000	0

Fourth Round of 700 MHz Spectrum Auction Top Results

Mike Dolan — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 15:22:08 -0500

Below are the top results of the fourth round of the 700 Mhz Auction.

Click here to see the rest of out 700 MHz Coverage.

Package/ License	Biddin g Units	Bid Round	PWB Amount	Minimum Bid for Round 5	New Bids
Package 50 States REAGs 1 - 8	281,116,000	4	$1,792,741,000	$2,151,288,000	1
Package Atlantic REAGs 10 & 12	884,000			$1,015,000	0
Package Pacific REAGs 9 & 11	62,000			$116,000	0
WP-NWA511-D Nationwide	128,210,000	1	$472,042,000	$522,196,000	0
WU-REA001-C Northeast	52,530,000			$419,583,000	0
WU-REA002-C Southeast	48,639,000			$395,193,000	1
WU-REA003-C Great Lakes	57,568,000			$445,270,000	2
WU-REA004-C Mississippi Valley	28,742,000			$177,397,000	2
WU-REA005-C Central	39,958,000			$166,932,000	0
WU-REA006-C West	51,966,000			$540,970,000	2
WU-REA007-C Alaska	528,000			$1,906,000	1
WU-REA008-C Hawaii	1,185,000			$4,037,000	1
WU-REA009-C Guam, Northern Mariana Islands	49,000	4	$85,000	$102,000	2
WU-REA010-C Puerto Rico, US Virgin Islands	862,000	1	$862,000	$954,000	0
WU-REA011-C American Samoa	13,000	1	$13,000	$14,000	0
WU-REA012-C Gulf of Mexico	22,000	4	$51,000	$61,000	4
WY-BEA001-A Bangor ME	224,000			$189,000	0

Third Round of 700 Mhz Auction Top Results

Mike Dolan — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 11:16:55 -0500

Just in: Fourth Round Results!

Below are the top results of the third round of the 700 Mhz Auction.

Click here to see the rest of out 700 MHz Coverage.

Package/ License	Bidding Units	Bid Round	PWB Amount	Minimum Bid for Round 4	New Bids
"C BLOCK" Package 50 States REAGs 1 - 8	281,116,000	3	$1,493,951,000	$1,792,741,000	1
Package Atlantic REAGs 10 & 12	884,000			$1,005,000	0
Package Pacific REAGs 9 & 11	62,000			$99,000	0
"D BLOCK" WP-NWA511-D Nationwide	128,210,000	1	$472,042,000	$525,147,000	0
WU-REA001-C Northeast	52,530,000			$415,188,000	0
WU-REA002-C Southeast	48,639,000			$306,117,000	1
WU-REA003-C Great Lakes	57,568,000			$343,587,000	1
WU-REA004-C Mississippi Valley	28,742,000			$134,115,000	2
WU-REA005-C Central	39,958,000			$163,589,000	0
WU-REA006-C West	51,966,000			$426,010,000	3
WU-REA007-C Alaska	528,000			$1,336,000	2
WU-REA008-C Hawaii	1,185,000			$2,799,000	1
WU-REA009-C Guam, Northern Mariana Islands	49,000	3	$71,000	$85,000	2
WU-REA010-C Puerto Rico, US Virgin Islands	862,000	1	$862,000	$959,000	0
WU-REA011-C American Samoa	13,000	1	$13,000	$14,000	0
WU-REA012-C Gulf of Mexico	22,000	3	$38,000	$46,000	4