3.45 GHz Auction Climbs, Hits Reserve Price
The 3.45 GHz auction continued to rise to $16 billion Wednesday, after surpassing in the second round of the day the $14.77 billion reserve price needed to close (see our news bulletin here). Experts said which major bidders stayed in,…
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and whether Dish Network or Verizon dropped out, won’t be clear until after it closes. “Contrary to our expectations, bidders moved back into a few more large markets, causing price growth to re-accelerate to 6-7% per round from the 5% it was growing at when bidding concluded yesterday evening,” New Street’s Phillip Burnett told investors Wednesday. Some 16 MHz of excess demand nationally still “must settle before the auction can close,” he said: “We would still expect price growth to decelerate materially once bidding in large markets settles (which is likely to happen today or tomorrow).” The auction could still reach New Street’s $25 billion forecast, but that seems unlikely, he said. Potential failure loomed after one large bidder appeared to drop out in round 10, blogged Sasha Javid, BitPath chief operating officer. Speculation has focused on both Dish and Verizon exiting, he said: “While speculation of which bidder dropped out … will continue until the final bidding data is released, this large drop in demand followed by a subsequent steep drop in Round 22, certainly made auction failure plausible. It was only demand in a few of the largest markets that pushed proceeds across the reserve price.” The FCC and carrier groups declined to comment.