March 21, 1995 PCS AUCTION UPDATE: FCC RECEIVES FULL $1.4 BILLION DEPOSIT Today, FCC Chairman Reed Hundt announced that "we have received a $1.4 billion down payment on competition." In perhaps the largest one-time transfer of wealth from the private sector to American taxpayers, the 18 winning bidders in the FCC's recently- completed auction of licenses to provide broadband personal communications services (PCS) have made the full $1.4 billion down payment on their licenses to the U.S. Treasury. The FCC's auction, which ran from December 5, 1994 until March 13, 1995 raised over $7 billion for the U.S. Treasury, making it the biggest auction in history. The money deposited in the Treasury today represents all the 20 percent down payment that FCC rules require that winning bidders pay on PCS licenses within five days of the auction close. The balance will be paid to the Treasury after these licenses are granted. This should occur in a few months. Attached is a list of winning bidders and the total amount they bid. "By using market-based incentives, the FCC is awarding these licenses for what they are truly worth, and the money from this valuable public property will be put right back into the hands of the citizens of this country, in investment, in jobs, and in payments to the U.S. Treasury," said Chairman Hundt. The FCC's broadband PCS auction offered 99 licenses to provide wireless personal communications services across the United States and its territories. The services, which will use state-of-the-art devices like lightweight, portable phones, can provide competition to the cellular telephone industry. There are currently two cellular providers per market. After the FCC's series of auctions, there could be as many as eight wireless providers in each market, all competing with each other and driving down prices. (over) - 2 - The broadband PCS auction was the largest auction that the FCC has held to date. Since 1993, when the FCC was authorized by Congress to conduct spectrum auctions, the Commission has held four auctions, two for narrowband PCS licenses (which offer mobile services like two-way paging), one for Interactive Video and Data Service licenses (which allow consumers to interact with their computers or TVs), and the just-completed broadband PCS auction. The four auctions have raised a total of $8,995,080,217 for the U.S. Treasury, or about $98 per U.S. household. - FCC - News Media Contact: Stacey Reuben Mesa at (202) 418-0654 Wireless Telecommunications Bureau Contact: Jackie Chorney at (202) 418-0600 BROADBAND PCS WINNING BIDDERS BIDDER NUMBER OF LICENSESWON TOTAL HIGH BIDS American Portable Telecommunications Inc. 8 $2,88,872,034 Ameritech Wireless Communications, Inc. 2 $158,100,000 AT&T Wireless PCS, Inc. 21 $1,684,418,000 BellSouth Personal Communications, Inc. 2 $82,056,001 Centennial Cellular Corp. 1 $54,672,000 Communications International Corp. 1 $228,001 Cox Cable Communications, Inc. 1 $5,078,000 GCI Communication Corp. 1 $1,650,129 GTE Macro Communications Corp. 4 $398,251,451 Pacific Telesis Mobile Services 2 $695,650,000 PCS PRIMECO, L.P. 11 $1,107,226,000 PhillieCo, L.P. 1 $84,995,012 Poka Lambro Telephone Cooperative, Inc. 2 $5,795,000 Powertel PCS Partners, L.P. 3 $124,447,000 South Seas Satellite Communications Corp. 1 $214,555 Southwestern Bell Mobile Systems, Inc. 3 $73,463,184 Western PCS Corp. 6 $144,208,262 WirelessCo, L.P. 29 $2,110,079,168 PIONEER PREFERENCE REVENUES COMPANY NUMBER OF LICENSES WON REVENUE Omnipoint Corp. 1 $347,518,309 Cox Communications, Inc. 1 $251,918,526 American Personal Communications, L.P. 1 $102,343,539 (Bid Withdrawal Penalties $14,836,213) GRAND TOTAL: $7,736,020,384