Qualcomm to boost MediaFLO with E-Block winnings




By Mike Dano
Story posted: April 3, 2008 - 7:00 pm EDT

AT&T Mobility and Qualcomm Inc. began pouring out their 700 MHz plans just minutes after the Federal Communications Commission lifted its gag rule today.

AT&T Mobility announced it will deploy Long Term Evolution (LTE) technology across its winnings from the recent 700 MHz auction and 2006’s advanced wireless services (AWS) auction. The news puts AT&T squarely on the path to 4G.

“AT&T will use the 700 MHz spectrum, as well as the AWS spectrum we acquired in the 2006 auction, for our 4G, LTE transition,” said John Donovan, AT&T’s CTO. “AT&T has broad coverage in these spectrum bands across 95% of the population. We have a contiguous band of 20 megahertz of spectrum for 4G, LTE transition across 82% of the population in the top 100 markets.”

AT&T Mobility won $6.6 billion of 700 MHz licenses across the B Block in the 700 MHz auction that closed last month, which the Federal Communication Commission calls Auction 73. The carrier plunked down $1.3 billion for AWS licenses during the FCC’s AWS auction in 2006 (called Auction 66).

However, AT&T CEO Ralph de la Vega said the carrier is in no rush to deploy LTE technology. Indeed, Donovan said LTE technology may not be ready until 2012.

AT&T’s announcement now sets the stage for the industry’s equipment suppliers to jump into the breech with their LTE kit.

AT&T was the No. 2 winner in the 700 MHz auction, which generated close to $20 billion in total provisionally winning bids. Verizon Wireless was the auction’s big winner, doling out around $9.4 billion for C-, B- and A-Block licenses. Verizon Wireless said it will unveil its 700 MHz plans in a conference call tomorrow morning.

As for Qualcomm, which spent $558 million on a handful of E- and B-Block licenses, the company said it will deploy its MediaFLO mobile TV technology across its E-Block winnings. Qualcomm said its 700 MHz winnings combined with its existing holdings will cover more than 68 million people in 28 individual markets with MediaFLO.

As for Qualcomm’s B-Block licenses, which cover California-Imperial, New Jersey-Hunterdon and Yuba City, Calif., the company said it will use those holdings for research and development.

Qualcomm was the fourth-largest bidder in the FCC’s 700 MHz auction. The third-largest bidder, EchoStar Communications Inc., said it does not intend to discuss its 700 MHz plans.

The FCC prohibited 700 MHz winners from discussing their plans until today.

In related auction news, Cyren Call Communications Corp. said it never demanded long-term payments as a condition for a winning bidder of the 700 MHz national commercial/public-safety license, breaking its silence in response to news reports and blog postings that strongly suggested it caused the demise of one-time D-Block aspirant Frontline Wireless L.L.C.

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