"C" Block of 700 Megahertz Spectrum Gets $4.71 billion Bid.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A bidder on Thursday offered $4.71 billion for a key slice of wireless airwaves being sold by the U.S. government, triggering a condition that the spectrum be accessible to any device or software application.

After 17 auction rounds, the bidding for the "C" block of 700 megahertz spectrum surpassed a $4.64 billion minimum set by the Federal Communications Commission.

As a result, the winner of the airwaves will have to abide by the open-access conditions, which had been sought by Internet search engine Google Inc and adopted by the FCC before the auction.

The bidders' identities are being kept secret, under FCC rules, until the entire auction ends. However, analysts have said the most likely bidders for the C block airwaves are Verizon Wireless and Google.

More at Reuters.

tag: open-access conditions, 700 megahertz spectrum, Verizon Wireless, Google, FCC Auction, "C" block auction