266 Companies Apply to Bid on Wireless Spectrum

– AT&T, Google, Verizon Wireless Head the List
– 4 with Pay-TV Connections

Barron’s reports that the FCC has received applications from 266 potential bidders in the upcoming 700 MHz spectrum auction. Among the more prominent and recognizable are:

– Advance/Newhouse*, owner of the Florida-based Bright House cable TV service

– Alltel, privately owned by TPG and Goldman Sachs

– AT&T Mobility Spectrum

– Cablevision bidding as CSC Spectrum Holdings

– CenturyTel Broadband Wireless

– Chevron

– Cincinnati Bell Wireless

– Cox Wireless*

– EchoStar under the name Frontier Wireless

– Google Airwaves

– Iowa Telecommunications Services

– MetroPCS 700 MHz LLC

– National Datacast, 88.6% controlled by PBS Enterprises, a for-profit operation of the not-for-profit Public Broadcasting System and 10% owned by Gemstar-TV Guide

– Qualcomm, which operates the MediaFLO mobile TV service that Verizon Wireless sells as V CAST Mobile TV and which AT&T has said it will soon start selling.

– Towerstream, which sells WiMAX to businesses

– Verizon Wireless, bidding as Cellco Partnership, of which Verizon Communications owns 55% and Vodafone the other 45%

– Vulcan Spectrum, one of Paul Allen’s many Vulcan investment vehicles. Allen is also the majority shareholder in the US cableco Charter Communications.

Sprint Nextel previously said it would not bid.

* Cox and Advance/Newhouse are two of the four cablecos (the other two being Comcast and Time Warner Cable) that are involved in a joint venture with Sprint called Pivot, which is intended to let the cablecos sell mobile service in competition with AT&T Mobility, Verizon Wireless and other US cellcos.

Two other pay TV services – Cablevision and EchoStar – also applied to bid. The cablecos need a mobile phone service to sell so they can more effectively compete with Verizon, which has promised to “blend” the Verizon Wireless service into its bundles, and AT&T. EchoStar needs desperately a broadband service, as does DirecTV, to compete with the cablecos and telcos.

The winning bid will be determined by who has the most money and the most to win or lose. On that count, Google, AT&T and Verizon would seem to be the favorites.