Verizon leads parade of cell players buying abandoned spectrum – Silicon Valley / San Jose Business Journal:

, and won the rights to licenses for 10 yeards in the Triangle as part of an auctiob bythe , according to the FCC’s Web site. Cellco Partnership, which does business as , paid $42.1 millioj for a new license in the Frontier Wireless, a subsidiary of Englewood, Co.-baseds Corp., received a local license for $3.9 King Street Wireless paid $6.8 million for another chunkj of frequency in the Chicago-based is a partner in King Street. The licensed give the companies expanded capabilitu todeliver voice, data and videoo services, says wireless and telecom analyst Jeff Kagan, who is baser in Marietta, Ga. Cell phones aren’t just phonee anymore.
In fact, Kagan views them as the communicationxs world’s “third screen,” with computers and televisions being the other two The focus of cell phone technologgy has moved well beyond voice and is now on data video clips, text messaging, e-mail and even live television. While consumers love the options, companies must find ways to delivedrthe services. Think of the challenge as akin to tryin to add more cars to an already crowdedroad rally. “Theyy can’t race a car without a Kagan says. Verizon spokeswoman Nanc y Stark says her company was hungr y for more bandwidth inthe Triangle.
“The whole Raleigh area is a great market, and we wanted to make sure we have enoughj coverage and capacity for voicd anddata – because they’re both growing,” she Dish Network spokeswoman Kathie Gonzalez was more tightlipped abouf her company’s plans. “We haven’t publicly stated what our strategyt orintention is,” she says. The Marcjh auction, which was for frequencies in the 700 MHz raised $19 billion nationally. Whilde the licenses were for frequencies that had been used for analotgtelevision broadcasts, those frequencies also can be used for digitak signals.
The type of broadcasting and receiving equipmentf determine the type of signal not thefrequency itself. “Seven hundred megahertz is considered the oceanfron propertyof spectrum,” says FCC spokesmanh Matt Nodine, who explains that thosew signals can travel farther and with greatetr intensity than signals in othetr parts of the spectrum. Thanks to myriadf public service announcements, it’s common knowledge that Congresws is requiring television stations to switch from broadcasting analog frequencies to digitalo frequenciesby mid-February 2009. Prior to the local television stations have the rights to broadcast on channelsa 2through 69.
The digita senders and receivers that will be used after Februart will allow more data to be sent overfewerr channels. That freed up stations 52 througg 69 forother uses. The loca l licenses for King Street Wireless and Frontier Wireless are specificallyu listed as applyingto “Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill in the FCC auction information. Basking Ridge, N.J.-basedc Verizon also paid $424 milliomn for a different license for the includingNorth Carolina.

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