UPDATE 2-EchoStar among FCC wireless auction applicants
(Adds further background, analyst comment)
By Peter Kaplan
WASHINGTON, Dec 19 (Reuters) - A venture involving EchoStar Communications Corp (DISH.O) is listed among the applicants for a January U.S. auction of coveted wireless airwaves, according to auction documents released by the Federal Communications Commission.
Satellite broadcaster EchoStar and the company's chairman, Charles Ergen, are listed among the owners of an entity called Frontier Wireless LLC that filed an application to bid in the FCC auction of 700-megahertz spectrum, according to documents posted Tuesday evening on the FCC's Web site.
The auction is expected to raise at least $10 billion for the U.S. government from airwaves being returned by television broadcasters as they move to digital from analog signals in early 2009. The signals are valuable because they can go long distances and penetrate thick walls.
Bidding in the FCC-run auction is scheduled to begin on Jan. 24. Those companies who submitted applications ahead of a Dec. 3 deadline must make an up-front payment to the FCC by Jan. 4 in order to bid.
Applicants listed in FCC documents also included, as expected, Internet leader Google Inc (GOOG.O) and U.S. wireless providers AT&T Inc (T.N) and Verizon Wireless, a joint venture of Verizon Communications Inc (VZ.N) and Vodafone Group Plc (VOD.L).
Another applicant listed was a venture led by former Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) co-founder Paul Allen and Qualcomm Inc (QCOM.O).
The auction is seen as a last opportunity for a new player to enter the wireless market. Google and other Silicon Valley leaders see the wireless spectrum as a way to create more open competition for mobile services and devices than those available on existing networks.
The wireless auction is expected to take several weeks, with the spectrum to be auctioned off in several different blocks.
The two largest chunks of spectrum are expected to be targeted by big players like Verizon and AT&T.
Stifel Nicolaus analyst Rebecca Arbogast said on Wednesday it is unclear exactly which blocks of spectrum EchoStar might be seeking in the auction.
Arbogast said EchoStar could have a difficult time bidding against the large companies for the biggest pieces of spectrum and could target smaller blocks instead.
"It's tough to see EchoStar outbidding (AT&T and Verizon)," Arbogast said. (Reporting by Peter Kaplan, editing by Dave Zimmerman)
