March 13, 1995 At 3:30 p.m. E.T. today, the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) first auction for broadband personal communications services (PCS) licenses officially ended, opening a new chapter of competition in the history of the wireless telephone industry. The broadband PCS auction, which began on December 5, 1994 and in which 99 licenses to provide PCS across the United States and its territories were put on the auction block, generated a total of $7,736,020,384 in high bids. That makes it the largest auction of government assets in history. The final results of the auction are attached. WirelessCo, L.P., a partnership among Sprint, Tele-Communications, Inc., Cox Cable, and Comcast Telephony, placed high bids totaling $2,110,079,168 in 29 markets, making it the auction's biggest winner. AT&T Wireless PCS Inc. was the winning bidder in 21 markets with $1,684,418,000 in high bids. Winning bidders will have the opportunity to provide wireless voice, data, and video services in one or several of 51 markets in the United States and its territories. The new licensees will provide voice telephone service that competes with both cellular telephone companies and traditional telephone companies. Whereas now, there are two cellular providers per market, after the FCC's series of auctions, there could be as many as eight wireless providers in each market. "It is a wonderful honor for us to be able to introduce competition in a robust, vigorous way in the wireless communication business of the future," said FCC Chairman Reed Hundt. "The auctions today represent what our county is capable of achieving when we all decide to pull in the same direction." Since 1993, when Congress authorized the FCC to conduct spectrum auctions, the Commission has held four auctions: two for narrowband PCS licenses, one for Interactive Video and Data Service licenses, and the just-completed broadband PCS auction. The four auctions, in total, have raised $8,995,080,217 billion for the U.S. Treasury, or $98 for every household in the United States. The FCC expects to hold a number of additional auctions for spectrum licenses throughout the year. Most of the bidding in the broadband PCS auction took place over the FCC's sophisticated computer network, which enables bidders to enter bids electronically from their offices or other remote locations. "I am very pleased with how smoothly this auction -- the biggest in the known universe -- ran," said Hundt. "The FCC auction team worked around-the-clock for over a year to get the job done. What they accomplished is nothing short of historic," he said. By March 20 1995, winning bidders in the auction must make a down payment bringing their total deposits with the government to 20 percent of the high bid on each license won. The FCC will process formal applications for these licenses within the next few months. Licensees must remit the remaining 80 percent of their high bids shortly after the license is granted. --FCC-- News Media Contact: Stacey Reuben Mesa at (202) 418-0654 Auction Contacts: Don Gips or Jonathan Cohen at (202) 418-2030