(Associated Press via NewsEdge) The US Federal Communications Commission declared the latest and most lucrative auction of the public airwaves closed, with bids totaling nearly $13.9 billion.
The commission auctioned off 1,087 licenses over 28 days. It was the largest amount of radio spectrum usable for wireless services made available since the agency went to an auction format in 1994.
The proceeds, still to be collected, will go to the US Treasury.
FCC chairman Kevin Martin said the auction was 'the biggest' and 'most successful' in the commission's history.
The agency auctioned off enough spectrum to build an entire new national wireless network and vastly improve services offered by existing wireless providers.
The top bidder was T-Mobile USA, owned by German telecommunications giant Deutsche Telekom.
The fourth-largest wireless provider offered $4.2 billion for 120 licenses spanning the country, according to the FCC.
The amount bid was within the range of the Congressional Budget Office's estimate that the auction would raise $10 billion to $15 billion.
Deutsche Telekom bid aggressively to make up for a shortage of spectrum in its U.S operations. The second-highest bidder was Verizon Wireless, the nation's No. 2 wireless provider, which pledged $2.8 billion for 13 licenses.
Third was SpectrumCo, a consortium of cable companies led by Comcast, which bid $2.4 billion.
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