Auction Watch: T-Mobile leads with 5 top bids

Total bids reached $2.4 billion as T-Mobile regained the lead in the eighth round of the advanced wireless services (AWS) auction, making five of the top 10 bids. The company, which has the most to lose if it doesn't win a bunch of licenses, was the highest bidder for the 20-MHz F-block license for the Northeast region with a new high bid of $207 million. Cricket gained the lead for the highly coveted Great Lakes regional 20-megahertz license that covers 31 million pops in the Mississippi Valley and another that covers about 50 million pops in the West. Interestingly, NextWave Telecom-backed AWS Wireless was the top bidder after the sixth round for three large licenses.

For more about the auction:
- check out this site from RCR Wireless News