AWS-3 Auction Enters Stage Three

The FCC has changed the bidding requirements for Stage Three of the AWS-3 auction. The FCC announced, “In order to meet the activity requirement in Stage Three and avoid using an activity rule waiver or having its eligibility reduced, a bidder must be active on at least 98% of its current bidding eligibility in each round, beginning with round 98. If a bidder’s provisionally winning bids do not satisfy the required activity level and the bidder does not place any additional bids, the FCC Auction System will automatically apply an activity rule waiver on the bidder’s behalf. If the bidder does not have any waivers remaining, its current bidding eligibility will be permanently reduced, possibly curtailing or eliminating its ability to place additional bids in the auction.” After completing 101 rounds yesterday, the auction reached over $44 billion.