A planned large US spectrum auction in 2015 has prompted major wireless carriers to buy, sell, and trade spectrum licenses as they seek to shore up their market positions. The broadcast television spectrum auction, which the Federal Communications Commission is still planning, will sell 600MHz spectrum, traditionally used for TV broadcasts, to wireless carriers. The band has properties similar to the 700 MHz frequency. T-Mobile, for example, announced in January it would be buying some 700MHz spectrum from Verizon in several markets for $3.3 billion, which should help the carrier quickly build out its 4G services. Explosive consumer demand for mobile bandwidth, which Network World expects to increase 11 times in four years, is causing carriers to acquire spectrum and otherwise upgrade their infrastructure. Experts forecast that Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, and Dish Network will spend about $50 billion on spectrum licenses in the next two years. (SlashDot)(Network World)(Federal Communications Commission)
Monday, March 10, 2014
Thursday, July 25, 2013
Working Apple 1 on the Auction Block
A functioning Apple 1—one of the first Apple computers—is set to be auctioned next week. The computer was discovered in storage by Ted Perry, a retired school psychologist who lives in Carmichael, California, a suburb of Sacramento. He obtained it in about 1979 or 1980 in a swap for other computer gear. The motherboard is the only original item remaining on the system. The market for early Apple products became hot, according to the Associated Press, after Steve Jobs’ death in 2011. Christie’s auction house will start the bidding on the Apple 1 at roughly $300,000 and estimates it could sell for as much as $500,000. In May, a working Apple 1 sold at an auction in Germany for a record auction price fetched by an Apple computer $671,000. Only 46 of the 200 Apple 1 computers made still remain, with only six in working condition. (PC Mag)(The Associated Press @ USA Today)
Friday, May 17, 2013
UK Spectrum Auction Probed
The UK’s National Audit Office is investigating the June 2012 auction of 4G wireless spectrum by British telecom regulator Ofcom to determine whether it was handled in a way that would yield a fair amount of revenue for the government. The auction generated £2.3 billion (about $3.54 billion at press time) rather than the anticipated £3.5 billion (about $5.38 billion). The UK government had factored the expected earnings into its national budget, so the shortfall could cause fiscal problems. Some industry observers say that had there been more aggressive bidding, the auction could have yielded as much as £4 billion (about $6.15 billion). (SlashDot)(TechWeek Europe)(The Guardian)