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Paul Allen to Bid in FCC Wireless Airwaves Auction

Posted Dec 19, 07 9:57 AM CST in Technology,  Business 

(Newser) – Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen is joining the competition for wireless airwaves being auctioned by the FCC next month. Allen’s firm, Vulcan Spectrum, applied, as have Google, Verizon, AT&T and others, to bid for the 700-megahertz spectrum that goes on the block Jan. 24, reports Reuters. Allen's investment company, Vulcan Capital, also holds a majority stake in Charter Communications, a cable operator.

Broadcasters are releasing the spectrum as they move to digital signals. Operators covet the spectrum because signals can penetrate walls and travel long distances, opening up opportunities for mobile web applications and operators. The FCC has accepted 96 applications to bid and lists 170 as incomplete. The auction will last weeks.

Sources Reuters, PC World

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Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen arrives at the annual Allen and Co.'s media conference in this July 13, 2007 file photo, in Sun Valley, Idaho. Allen will sell a large portion of his stake in DreamWorks...   (Associated Press)
Vulcan chairman and Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen arrives at the annual Allen and Co.'s media conference Friday, July 13, 2007, in Sun Valley, Idaho. (AP Photo/Douglas C. Pizac)   (Associated Press)
Paul Allen, co-founder of Microsoft, looks towards the Ansari X Prize trophy during a ceremony in St. Louis awarding the $10 million prize to Scaled Composites, LLC, creators of SpaceShipOne, November...   (Getty Images)
Microsoft co-founder Paul G. Allen waits to speak about the completion of the Allen Brain Atlas during a news conference on Capitol Hill September 26, 2006 in Washington, DC. The Allen Brain Atlas has...   ( (Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images))
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