Spectrum of Greed

The Block layout for 700 hz

In a document released last week, the FCC lists at the very bottom of page six of the license list two line items for Block C licenses - the only two in the document, and they are assigned to Triad 700, LLC.  Both are listed under file #3382992.  While Verizon won the bid for the class C block in March, it appears that the FCC is allowing Verizon to sub-lease their licenses back to another vendor.  That would be very handy to a company that doesn’t really need to use the bandwidth themselves, but just want to make sure that they can control how it will be used.

What Triad 700 says on their website about their participation in the auction (paraphrased), ‘Better last mile coverage into buildings & cars, better range, and the last of this optimal frequency that will be auctioned by the FCC for many years’.  Note they also say they ‘participated’ in the auctions and ‘acquired’ 700Mhz spectrum.  No mention of ‘winning’.  Their actual quote is below.

“Most recently, Triad participated and acquired 700 MHz licenses in FCC Auction 73. Triad Management believes 700 MHz spectrum will give it a unique advantage to provide new and innovative wireless services to previously under-served customers. 700 MHz spectrum is the highest power, lowest frequency wireless mobility spectrum ever auctioned by the FCC. No lower frequency mobility spectrum is slated for auction in the future. Low frequency spectrum has superior propagation characteristics when compared to higher frequency spectrum like Cellular, PCS, MMDS or AWS. Radio signals at 700 MHz can travel greater distances, and can penetrate buildings and vehicles easier than radio signals at higher frequencies. Because of theses advantages, wireless networks utilizing 700 MHz spectrum require fewer transmission sites, translating into cost and quality advantages for network operators.”

I am interested to find out how the Class C block of the 700 Mhz will be used on a national basis, and how the requirements that the FCC placed on the spectrum if the bid exceeded 4.6 Billion will be achieved.  Om Malik has a great explanation of the spectrum here.  Those requirements were that they had to allow all devices and all applications.