The FCC has just lifted its gag order on the gory details of the 700MHz Auction 73, and AT&T wasted absolutely no time setting up a press conference to discuss how it was planning to utilize its win in the so-called B Block. Bottom line: AT&T's moving to LTE for its 4G infrastructure -- no surprise there, since it's the natural evolution for GSM carriers -- and the purchase is designed to support that build-out. As they've said before, they're tooting their horn over the fact that the B Block action combined with the Aloha spectrum purchase gives the carrier 100 percent coverage in the 700MHz arena in the top 200 US markets, while also noting that the frequency range is stellar at breaking through walls for hot in-building coverage.

As for Verizon's C Block win -- the block touted for its open access clause -- AT&T's convinced that the B Block made more sense for the very reason that it lacked those regulatory restrictions. The lack of FCC oversight is cause for some concern, yes, but AT&T continues to stress that it was "open" long before the whole C Block hullabaloo came along by virtue of the fact that any GSM device with the right bands can hop on its network.

In terms of timing, the company's not really in any hurry; it wants to continue to milk HSPA for everything it's worth, promising a 7.2Mbps downlink rollout through 2009, and realistically, we'll be well into the next decade before we see wide-scale use of 700MHz LTE around these parts. A little scary for the impatient among us, we've gotta say.

Win or lose, all the bidders wrapped up in the so-called Auction 73 for precious spectrum in the 700MHz band are still under tight FCC-imposed gag orders in an effort to stem any funny business, but it looks like they're at least ready to come out and dip their toes into the PR waters. Verizon, the biggest winner having claimed the big, wide Block C prize, says that it's "pleased with [its] auction results" (we should certainly hope so), that the new airwaves will help it maintain its "reputation as the nation's most reliable wireless network," and that they're now better positioned to lead the way with new services and devices. The megacarrier goes on to boast about the fact that its winning bids score it massive 298 million person footprint, plus another 171 million worth of licenses in different Blocks.

Meanwhile, AT&T seems happy with its purchase, too -- but then again, it's not like any of these companies would be issuing immediate statements expressing buyer's remorse, we guess. The number one US carrier by subscribers reports that its newly acquired licenses, in combination with spectrum snatched from Aloha Partners earlier this year, now gives it 100 percent coverage in the 700MHz arena in the nation's top 200 markets, with "quality spectrum" (whatever that means) covering 95 percent of the American populace. For what it's worth, AT&T's Auction 73 purchases were in Block B, which has moderately less bandwidth than Verizon's Block C win -- but as they say, it's not the bandwidth of the spectrum, it's the motion of the frequencies, so we'll have to wait to see how these guys actually use these licenses before we rush to any conclusions.

Finally, from its brief statement, Google appears to have gotten exactly what it wanted: nothing at all. The company says that Auction 73 "produced a major victory for American consumers" because Block C's reserve price was met -- thanks largely to Google's early bidding, it's believed -- which means that Verizon will be obligated to allow devices of all shapes, sizes, colors, and brands to participate when it flips the switch on its 700MHz network.

All three companies sound like they're itching to say more as soon as the FCC allows it, so stay tuned as we try to figure out exactly what's next for the auction, the carriers, and the people who actually want to benefit from this action (read: us).

Read - AT&T's statement
Read - Verizon Wireless' statement
Read - Google's statement

After yesterday's wrap-up of the gargantuan Auction 73 to offload the newly-freed 700MHz spectrum, it looks like the two champions to emerge are Verizon and AT&T. Big Red has emerged with virtually all of the highly coveted C Block save for Alaska, Puerto Rico, and the Gulf of Mexico, a logical move considering its recent foray into the wide world of open access. AT&T, meanwhile, has scored much of the B Block, giving it 12MHz of spectrum in many of over 700 "cellular market areas" nationwide. In total, Verizon laid out a whopping $4,741,807,000 to pick up the Block C airwaves, leaving early competitor Google in the dust -- and affirming rumors that Mountain View wasn't in it to win it, it just wanted to make sure the reserve price was met and open access rules were assured.

Other winners include Qualcomm, which won bits and pieces of the B and E Blocks -- more MediaFLO spectrum, perhaps? -- and Frontier Wireless, scoring the overwhelming majority of the low-bandwidth E Block. Frontier is in cahoots with Echostar, though it's not clear how (or if) the new spectrum would augment its satellite TV service.

Left out in the cold was the D Block, a wireless range which the FCC had required to be used in partnership with public safety groups; it failed to meet its minimum reserve price of $1.33 billion, which means that a new Auction 76 will be automatically spawned for bidders to have another go at it. Follow the break for the big winners, broken down by block.

Hear that? Yeah, that's the fat lady -- the 700MHz auction is over today, and the FCC netted $19.6B for the 1,099 licenses it put on the block. It's still not known who placed the winning $4.75B bid for the lucrative open-access 50-state C-block (probably Verizon) but hopefully we'll find out soon. There was a ton of regional action as well: a package of licenses for spectrum in Chicago went for $892.4M, another set for Newark and NYC went for $884.7M, and LA's two sets of 700MHz airwaves cost some lucky punter giant corporation $580.3M and $484M -- and if you'd scraped together $17K, you would be the king of the airwaves in American Samoa. Sadly, no one met the reserve for the public-safety D-block, so it looks like Uncle Sam's going to have to toss it in the back of the van and schlep it the old fashioned way. We doubt we'll know for sure who's got what until the gray suits manage to verify everything and make sure all the rules were followed, but it's still an historic day -- and remember, we've got all the info on what this could mean in the future right here.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

We're going to resist digging deep into our secret stash of yak jokes here and just concentrate on the facts: Canada's Yak Communications, a division of a larger telecom outfit Globalive, has formally submitted paperwork to get in on Canada's upcoming spectrum auction. The auction's a pretty big deal -- T-Mobile's name has been thrown around as a possible entrant -- because as Yak points out, only three companies currently own the entirety of Canada's national cellular airwaves, leaving plenty of room for improvement in the competition department. Yak's whole deal appears to be centered around a contract-free approach, something that could come as a refreshing change of pace in a country where three-year contracts are more the rule than the exception. The auction kicks off toward the end of May, and in the meantime, feel free to post yak humor of your very own (of the clean sort, of course) in comments.

[Via Mobile In Canada]

So Canada's about to swing open the doors to a new wireless competitor thanks to a massive spectrum auction being held this spring, and at least one analyst type of character -- this one with Canada's CIBC -- thinks T-Mobile might be game. Having just spread into North America relatively recently on thing wings of its Voicestream and Powertel purchases in 2001, it would be a considerably easier hop to spread north into Canada, and the analyst speculates that Deutsche Telekom could get around the country's pesky domestic ownership rules by partnering (at least initially, anyway) with a homegrown carrier. Canadians, we turn the question over to you: how would you feel about T-Mobile heading up your way?

[Via Mobile In Canada]

Feeling frightened, confused, or tingly due to all this 700MHz auction talk and its "open access" rules? Truck on over to Engadget classic and get the full rundown on what you need to know.

Alright, alright, everyone calm down -- yes, today marks the beginning of 2008's Super Bowl of wireless spectrum auctions, but unfortunately, there won't be much to see. No 24-hour television coverage of the intense action, no live webcams of the FCC's wacky, wild, no-holds-barred trading floors; heck, not even an official update from the Commish or any of the bidders. Why's that? Glad you asked. Let us quickly break down what the auction's all about and what it means to you:

• The auction, known officially as Auction 73, is made possible by the move from analog to digital television, which frees swaths of bandwidth in the 700MHz range.
• This represents one of the last frontiers of nationwide RF spectrum that is expected to be available and practical for consumer use any time soon, which has generated intense interest and even more intense scrutiny.
• In an effort to stem collusion, the FCC is being extremely secretive about the applicants for bidding, saying only that there is a total of 214 bidders involved. They've also told bidders that they aren't allowed to publicly disclose anything about the auction or their bids before the auction's over, lest they forfeit the whole shebang.
• We do know that AT&T, Verizon, Cox, and most famously, Google are all committed to bidding.
• Auction 73 is broken into a total of five "blocks." Block C is by far the most coveted of the five because it contains the most bandwidth -- 22MHz in total, broken into two 11MHz pairs -- and also because it consists of fewer regions, making it easier to assemble a contiguous, nationwide network. Blocks A, B, and D should see some action, too, while Block E is the redheaded stepchild of the bunch with only one 6MHz piece of spectrum to its name.
• The FCC has ordered that the winner of the Block C auction must commit to creating an open-access network, meaning any device capable of supporting the appropriate protocols must be allowed to connect and enjoy 700MHz bliss.
• Bidding begins today, January 24, in two consecutive rounds. Starting tomorrow and each business day thereafter, there will be a total of three bidding rounds. After each round concludes, the FCC will disclose to bidders the current asking price for each block without revealing anything about the winning bidders. Bidding continues indefinitely until no additional bids are placed.
• The reserve price for Block A is $1.81 billion; Block B, $1.37 billion; Block C, a whopping $4.64 billion; Block D, $1.33 billion, and Block E, $904 million. If at the end of bidding any reserves have not been met, a new auction, Auction 76, will automatically be spawned. The FCC's open-access requirement on Block C would be dropped if it makes it through to Auction 76, fueling rumors that Google intends to bid it up to the reserve price then drop out. The date and new reserve prices for the remaining blocks would be decided when (and if) it's determined that Auction 76 is necessary.
• There is no "Buy it now!" button, we hear, and the FCC has a stellar feedback rating. Don't worry, bidders, the FCC isn't going to screw you on shipping and handling for the wireless spectrum you've already paid top dollar for.

So there you have it. As dry as that summary may be, it pales in comparison to the piles upon piles of literature the FCC has generated (as one might expect from a government bureaucracy of the highest order) and it's really about as boiled down as we can get it for the moment. We won't know who won, where the bidding stands, or what firms plan to do with their blocks until the conclusion of the auction -- a conclusion that could come tomorrow, next week, or next month. Rest assured, though, we'll have plenty more coverage as soon as this all shakes down.

We think the emphatic "For Parts ONLY" in the description of this well-loved E90's eBay auction pretty much says it all.

[Via Just Another Mobile Phone Blog]

There isn't necessarily any single morsel of news here, but 3G Americas -- the group responsible for keeping GSM on the up and up this side of the pond -- just wants everyone to know that it likes AWS' chances for gaining ground in this part of the world for new HSPA (and eventually, LTE) deployments. Yanks may know AWS better as the weird flavor of bandwidth T-Mobile has gotten stuck with for deploying its desperately overdue 3G services; it utilizes spectrum in both the 1700 and 2100MHz spaces to push bits around, and while it hasn't yet been commercially deployed on a wide scale, the consortium points out that AWS spectrum auctions are in the pipe for Canada, Chile, and Mexico, among others. Naturally, that's very good news for anyone who finds themselves shopping for an AWS handset down the road, seeing how broader support across borders leads to broader manufacturer support -- a fact that 3G Americas is also quick to note. European and Asian buy-in is another matter altogether, but we'll take what we can get.

[Via Phone Scoop]

The deadline for declaring an intent to bid on that sweet, sweet 700MHz spectrum in the US is December 3rd. According to the Wall Street Journal, Google will announce their intent, today. Hear that Verizon? All your legal posturing and lobbying to block the Open Access (only to about-face with talk of your own openness) seemingly have been for naught. Now it's time to put up or shut up in what's estimated to be a very costly bidding war for the prime "C" block swath in January.

[Via mocoNews]

Although America's upcoming 700MHz spectrum auction could see a newcomer or two join the fold, Canada's auction is actually calling for it. Reportedly, Industry Minister Jim Prentice made known that 40MHz of the 105MHz of spectrum available for bidding would be "set aside for newcomers to the industry," hinting that more competition could eventually lead to lower cellphone rates across the nation. He went on to say that the "introduction of new service providers would help to make Canada's wireless market more dynamic, more competitive, and more innovative," and moreover, only companies that hold less than 10-percent of revenues in that market would be allowed to bid for the luscious 40MHz segment. As expected, big boys in the biz are none too pleased about the announcement, with Telus executive vice-president Janet Yale even going so far as to say that it believed the move "wouldn't be in the best interest of consumers or telecom industry overall." Right.

[Thanks, Andy]

Somewhere below the mighty P1i in Sony Ericsson's UIQ-based smartphone lineup lies the M600, a phone that introduced the world to one of the most bizarre QWERTY keypad styles we've ever seen -- a style Sony Ericsson continues to sporadically use today. Thing is, the M600's getting awfully long in the tooth, and we've been waiting on the long-rumored (and FCC-confirmed) M610 for a long freakin' time now. It may still be getting tweaked deep within Sony Ericsson's labs, but at least one prototype example has strayed far enough from home to find itself listed on eBay's German site. Bearing the trademark "SE123" found on prerelease Sony Ericssons, the thing certainly looks legit -- though we're not really convinced it looks better than the M600 it's destined to replace. Then again, maybe that's why it hasn't been announced yet.

[Via Unwired View]

Back in August, it seemed pretty certain that the 700MHz spectrum auction would go down on January 16th of next year. Now, however, the FCC has officially delayed the auction by eight days to "provide interested parties with additional time after this announcement of competitive bidding procedures to develop business plans, assess market conditions and evaluate the availability of equipment for new 700MHz band services." Reportedly, the aforementioned parties only have from November 19th to December 3rd to fill out a short-form license application, and if all goes as planned, a "mock auction" should commence on January 18th, 2008. If you'd like to get into all the reserve prices, upfront payment deadlines and top secret details about the hors d'oeuvres that will likely be served at the forthcoming event, feel free to hit the read link for all 122 mind-numbing pages. [Warning: PDF read link]

[Via PhoneScoop]

Prepare to feel your carrier-hate well from within. Remember Verizon Wireless' lawsuit against the FCC claiming that the 700MHZ open-access auction rule -- the rule enabling the likes of Google, Apple, and others to take home a slice of the spectrum pie -- "violates the US Constitution?" Well, according to "industry sources," FCC chairman Kevin Martin is "aggressively pushing" for revisions to the 700MHz open-access rule in response to Verizon Wireless' lobbying efforts. However, having been met with an internal FCC "backlash" last week, Martin is said to be preparing a "declaratory ruling" in an effort to fast-track support for VZW's claim outside of the normal public-comment process. Insiders worry that Martin is caving to VZW pressure as the auction expected to generate some $15 billion in FCC fun-money draws near. Man, nothing says free market capitalism like a little protectionist bullying -- "can we sue you now."

[Via Phonescoop]