July 25, 1995

                   FCC OPENS FIRST EVER AIRWAVE AUCTIONS

     The Federal Communications Commission today opened the
bidding in the first ever auction of licenses to use the
electromagnetic spectrum.  Bidding in this first auction is for
licenses in the narrowband Personal Communications Service (PCS),
expected to be used for advanced paging and data transmission
services such as two-way pagers and networked palmtop computers. 
The FCC will auction ten nationwide licenses this week, using
electronic simultaneous multiple round bidding.  Future auctions
will be held for narrowband PCS licenses covering regional and
other local areas.  On Thursday and Friday of this week, the FCC
will auction almost 600 licenses for Interactive Video Data
Service (IVDS), an interactive broadcast service.

     Commissioner James H. Quello opened the bidding at 10 a.m.
with a bang of the gavel that brought up the electronic bidding
stations.  Quello said today "Personal Communications Services
will change the way we communicate.  Narrowband PCS will provide
for advanced paging and messaging services for an increasingly
mobile and information-dependent society.  We Commissioners share
the vision of a robust competitive new personal mobile
communications industry that will benefit the American people in
the very near future.  Today is the first step in actually
implementing that vision."

     FCC Chief of Staff Blair Levin read a statement from
Chairman Reed Hundt, in which the Chairman sad "Today we make
history.  Today we open a skylight and invite all Americans to
gaze up and dream of a future with new wireless technologies that
will enrich our lives, expand our economy and contribute to our
national Treasury.  In fact, in light of last week's anniversary,
I am tempted to say that while today we might be taking one small
step toward reducing the national debt -- we are making a giant
leap toward increasing competition in communications and
expanding our economy.  This is truly a win-win-win day."

     Commissioner Susan Ness demonstrated several possible
narrowband PCS products including a two-way pager with the
following example:  "Let's say one of you in this room today
wanted to send a message that might read, 'The bidding is going
higher than expected.  Can we raise our line of credit by $5
million?'  And back would come the response, "Done.'"  Ness
added, "These are just a few of the potential uses of this new
spectrum.  Other commercial offerings are limited only by the
imagination of those of you bidding today."

     Shortly after ll a.m., Congressman Edward Markey, Chairman
of the House Subcommittee on Telecommunications and Finance,
announced that the total bids in the first round of bidding
exceeded $100 million.

     Bidding for narrowband PCS will continue until there are no
higher bidders.  Bidding will begin each day at 9 a.m.  Final
winning bids will be reported on-site as soon as possible after
the close of bidding.  IVDS bidding will open at 9 a.m. on
Thursday.

     "We're using brand new electronic bidding techniques to
create a new generation of wireless services,"  said Jerry
Vaughan, Deputy Chief of the FCC's Common Carrier Bureau and Head
of the Commission's Auction Team.  "Later this week we will use a
traditional auction method to create another new service.  These
auctions prove the government can more quickly and flexibly to
enable industry and entrepreneurs to bring new services to the
market."

     The auctions are taking place at the Ommi Shoreham Hotel in
Washington, D.C.  The public can watch the bidding in person or
electronically via the Dow Jones Telerate or obtain the results
electronically from the Internet (anonymous FTP at fcc.gov).  All
of these systems are reporting the high bids for each round of
bidding.  However, official results are available only at the
auction site.

     For more information on to receive daily closing prices,
news media can contact the auction press room at (202)745-0850
(or 0857 or 0858).  Others interested in these or future auctions
should call the FCC auction hotline at (202)418-1400.


                              -FCC-