Maine wireless licenses popular Four companies bid $29 million

BANGOR – A Federal Communications Commission auction netted bids totaling more than $29 million from four wireless communication companies that sought the 10 licenses available in Maine.

The Maine licenses were available in five markets called Basic Trading areas by the FCC. Nationwide, 422 licenses were available in the auction, padding the FCC’s coffers by more than $16 billion. All of the licenses auctioned off were made available when other wireless companies either went bankrupt or somehow voided their license agreements with the FCC.

The auction began in mid-December and came to a conclusion late last Friday. There were 101 rounds of bidding. The auction represents only a share of the total wireless licenses currently issued in the United States.

Verizon, under its corporate name of Cellco Partnership, was the leading bidder nationally for the licenses, spending more than $8 billion on 113 licenses. Verizon placed high bids on two licenses serving the Portland and Lewiston markets.

Cingular Wireless, through its partner company, Salmon PCS, placed the high bids on the four remaining Maine entrepreneurial licenses. Those licenses were set aside in the Bangor, Waterville, Lewiston and Portland markets.

Open licenses were available to companies of any size and age, whereas entrepreneurial licenses theoretically were available only to new upstart ventures.

Clay Owen, Cingular spokesman, said his company owns an 85 percent share of Salmon PCS but referred all other inquiries about the partnership to Salmon chairman George Crowley. Calls to Crowley’s office were not returned Tuesday.

Coloma Spectrum LLC – an entrepreneurial company from San Francisco – placed high bids for two Maine licenses in the Presque Isle region. Representatives for Coloma Spectrum could not be reached Monday.

The FCC currently is reviewing the bids and accepting public comments on the high bidders – a process that could last for several months. At that point the licenses formally will be awarded to the wireless companies.

Rich Blasi, spokesman for AT&T’s wireless division, said Monday his company is likely to introduce new digital services to the Portland market, where the company won a license under the name of its corporate partner, Alaska Native Wireless LLC. Among those services, Blasi said, will be services for hand-held computers such as streaming video, video networking and applications to speed the downloading of software. Other companies, according to industry reports, are expected to use the new licenses to fill gaps in coverage areas for current cellular phone service areas.

But AT&T and other companies have come under fire from smaller wireless companies for using corporate partnerships – or “shells” – to bid on coveted entrepreneurial licenses that are supposed to go to new, upstart ventures.

The partnerships, some small firms have said, have prevented competition in many markets and allowed larger companies to expand operations. Five such licenses were set aside in Maine – all of which were claimed by larger companies through their corporate partners.

AT&T obtained an entrepreneurial license in the Portland market through its corporate partner.

Blasi said the partnership AT&T made with Alaska Native Wireless is both legal and fair, adding that there is tremendous competition among wireless companies. “One of the things that the FCC anticipated,” Blasi said, “is that there would be some partnering between larger companies and smaller companies. In most places, people have a choice between five or more wireless services.”

With the most recent auction, AT&T and Alaska Native Wireless will hold licenses to serve 88 of the top 100 U.S. markets, according to a company news release. The partnership bid more than $2.86 billion for 43 licenses, of which AT&T will pay $2.6 billion – leaving the balance to its partner companies.

Mark Rubin, spokesman for the FCC’s wireless communications division, said Monday his agency plans review all objections to the auction. But Rubin also said the FCC does allow partnering between companies.

“We allow this partnering,” Rubin said, “we always have.” Rubin said the FCC now would begin analyzing the individual partnerships before awarding the licenses. Among the points of inquiry, Rubin said, will be which companies maintain the decision-making authority on the controlling boards and how the finances are arranged.

“We need to be especially thorough because of all of these allegations,” Rubin said. He added that the FCC’s review of the bidding could take several months and will include the consideration of public comment about the process.