NEWSNEWS                                                    
January 14, 1997
                BROADBAND PCS D, E AND F BLOCK AUCTION CLOSES
                 Last Major Broadband PCS Auction Concluded
                                    
     The FCC's Personal Communications Services (PCS) D, E and F
Block auction,
which began on August 26, 1996, closed today, after 276 rounds
raising a total net revenue
of $2,517,439,565.  This was the largest number of licenses the
FCC has auctioned at one
time -- 1,479 licenses.  This auction is also the final broadband
PCS auction.  Broadband
PCS can be used to provide wireless telephony, data, advanced
paging and other services,
and will help foster new services like high speed wireless
Internet access and wireless local
loop.
      
     "We have now successfully auctioned 120 MHz of spectrum
allocated for broadband
PCS," said Michele Farquhar, Chief of the Wireless
Telecommunications Bureau.  "This is
an accomplishment for the agency as well as a boon for the
American consumer.  The
broadband PCS A/B/C auctions assure that at least five wireless
carriers will be initially
competing in the commercial mobile radio services market.  The
D/E/F auction will help
increase that number in certain markets, and/or add to the
ability of incumbents to compete
in other markets."

      In this auction, the FCC simultaneously auctioned 1,479
Basic Trading Area (BTA)
licenses to provide Personal Communications Services in the 2 GHz
band.  Three 10 MHz
licenses were offered in each of the 493 Basic Trading Areas in
the United States and its
territories.  Each frequency block encompasses the following
spectrum:

     Block D: 1865-1870 MHz paired with 1945-1950 MHz
     Block E: 1885-1890 MHz paired with 1965-1970 MHz
     Block F:  1890-1895 MHz paired with 1970-1975 MHz
     
     This auction, with 125 winning bidders, continued to open
new opportunities for
small businesses, women, minorities, and rural telephone
companies.  Forty percent of the
licenses have gone to 93 small businesses; 3.4 percent of the
licenses have gone to 8 women-
owned entities; 4.8 percent of the licenses have gone to 16
minorities; 11.3 percent of the
licenses have gone to 32 rural telecommunication entities. 

     "Small business was a big winner in the D, E, and F Block
auction, winning
approximately 40 percent of the licenses.  We look forward to the
innovative services the
auction winners will offer consumers," said Catherine J.K.
Sandoval, Director, Office of
Communications Business Opportunities.
                                  (over)

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     The initial 10% downpayment for these license will be due on
January 23, 1997.  The
high bidders are also obligated to file a Form 600 application on
January 30, 1997.

 - FCC -

News Media Contact:  Kara Palamaras at (202) 418-0654
Wireless Telecommunications Bureau contact: John Spencer at (202)
418-0660