Receive new posts as email.
RSS 0.91 | RSS 2.0
RDF | Atom
Podcast only feed (RSS 2.0 format)
Get an RSS reader
Get a Podcast receiver
| Sun | Mon | Tues | Wed | Thurs | Fri | Sat |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | |
| 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 |
| 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 |
| 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 |
| 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 |
This site operates as an independent editorial operation. Advertising, sponsorships, and other non-editorial materials represent the opinions and messages of their respective origins, and not of the site operator or JiWire, Inc.
Entire site and all contents except otherwise noted © Copyright 2001-2006 by Glenn Fleishman. Some images ©2006 Jupiterimages Corporation. All rights reserved. Please contact us for reprint rights. Linking is, of course, free and encouraged.
Powered by
Movable Type
« EarthLink To Franchise Its Metro-Scale Wi-Fi Model | Main | Chicago Wants Citywide Wi-Fi via Private Partner »
Folks, we’ve topped 100 rounds: Cast your mind back a few weeks, when I thought this auction for the prized air-to-ground spectrum licenses would end quickly. I had hopes after Round 37, when AC BidCo (AirCell’s sister company) effectively won the bidding for the important 3 MHz license. But at round 105, Space Data (free-floating airships with antennas) is still squaring off against JetBlue subsidiary LiveTV for the 1 MHz sliver. The bidding is up to $4.4m, and the FCC increased the number of bidding rounds up to 15 per day to move things along. Increments are a minimum of five percent, and both companies are just inching forward.
(Update: Round 120 finds the 1 MHz license residing at the moment in LiveTV’s hands for $7m. The FCC is moving to 18 rounds per day starting tomorrow.)
Meanwhile, to pass the time, you can listen to a brief report from American Public Radio’s Marketplace Morning Report in which I have a couple of soundbites on AirCell and AirFone (misspelled in the transcript). My point on AirFone is that Verizon will suddenly have a competitor via VoIP on laptops and via converged cell/Wi-Fi handsets. While they get a license until 2010 for operating phone service for which privilege they’ll have to spend tens of millions to upgrade planes, they’ll also have to contend with this very real alternative.
One thought is that Verizon and AirCell could partner on retrofitting planes as they won’t be competing for the broadband side—or AirCell could buy the AirFone business outright. The two companies aren’t allowed to talk under FCC rules for auctions yet, but I imagine various people will be in touch with other people’s people as soon as the gavel slams down.
Posted by Glennf at May 30, 2006 10:59 PM
Categories: Air Travel, Spectrum
TrackBack URL for this entry:
https://db.isbn.nu/mt3/mt-tb.pl/3745