The Federal Communications Commission’s 600 MHz incentive auction proceedings came to an unexpected halt this week as forward-bidding activity dropped below the level needed to continue the proceedings.
The auction did manage to hit more than $23 billion in total “winning” bids, but at a slowing pace of less than $1 billion in new winning bids per round was not expected to come near the more than $88 billion in total auction proceeds to pay television broadcasters the $86 billion they wanted for the spectrum assets being offered up or the fees needed to clear and repackage license holders.
