Verizon and AT&T dominate airwaves auction

By Peter Kaplan

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Verizon Communications Inc and AT&T Inc, the two largest U.S. mobile phone companies, grabbed the lion's share of a $19.12 billion auction of airwaves being vacated by television broadcasters.

Verizon and AT&T won more than $16 billion of licenses, according to auction results released on Thursday, airwaves they plan to use to enhance existing voice and data services, as well as underpin a new wave of wireless technologies.

The possibility of a nationwide video network was raised by a $711 million slice of the 700 megahertz airwaves won by Frontier Wireless, a partner of satellite television operation DISH Network Corp. DISH declined to comment.

But No. 2 wireless provider Verizon and No. 1-ranked AT&T dominated the Federal Communications Commission auction that started January 24 and ended Tuesday after 260 round of bidding.

"It means that the two big guys just got much bigger," said Rebecca Arbogast, an analyst with Stifel Nicolaus.

Verizon Wireless, a joint venture with Vodafone Group Plc, won the biggest nationwide block of spectrum, with a $4.74 billion bid that trumped $4.71 billion offered by Internet leader Google Inc, FCC officials said.

Verizon Wireless also won 25 regional licenses.

AT&T won 227 licenses in regional licenses around the United States. The company can pair those airwave with a large piece of 700-megahertz spectrum it gained earlier this year in its $2.5 billion acquisition of Aloha Partners.