The FCC released the names of companies who have submitted applications to participate in the upcoming 700 Mhz auction. There are 266 companies interested in bidding. The usual suspects are there, including Verizon Wireless and AT&T. There are some interesting “out of left field” entrants too, including the oil/energy company Chevron. Despite the press coverage of Comcast and Time Warner Cable sitting this auction out, there are several cable interests. Cox, Cablevision, and Advance/Newhouse are all in. Charter’s chairman Paul Allen is in through his company Vulcan. There are some smaler cable interests in as well, including Bend Broadband. Echostar is also in, using the name Frontier Wireless. There are also some foreign interests, including major carriers from India and Japan, both of whom are using U.S. subsidiaries to do their bidding. Of course the elephant in the room is Google. It all sets the stage for what will be an interesting (and quite lucrative to the taxpayers) party that will have long reaching competitive implications for the U.S. market.
Read this BusinessWeek article for a good detailed look.
