The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC (News - Alert)) on Tuesday made it known that the 700 MHz auction (set up to sell off wireless spectrum previously used for analog TV) was over, and that it raised $19.59 billion But, the agency did not reveal which companies won the blocks of spectrum up for bid.

 

Analysts speculating about the most talked-about “C” block (which received a high bid of $4.74 billion) guessed that Verizon (News - Alert) Wireless seemed the most likely winner, Reuters said in a Tuesday report.

 

Turns out those analysts were right.

 

The FCC said on Thursday that Verizon Wireless was, indeed, winner of the C block, Reuters (News - Alert) reported. Verizon invested a pretty hefty sum to beat out Google for this part of the spectrum. It also had to agree to rules that require networks built using the spectrum to be open to devices from other vendors, Bloomberg noted in a Thursday report.

 

The so-called “open access rules” associated with the C block were championed by Google, which lobbied hard to have the FCC put those restrictions in place.

 

“Verizon must let any device run on the network, breaking a phone-company pattern of limiting the products they support,” Bloomberg said in its report.

 

Altogether, Verizon spent 9.36 billion during the auction to purchase 25 licenses, Bloomberg said. AT&T (News - Alert) shelled out $6.6 billion for 227 licenses.

 

By many measure, the FCC’s auction was a grand success. There was only one dark spot: the “public safety” or D block, did not attract bidders willing to shell out enough money to meet or exceed the agency’s reserve price of $1.33 billion, Washington Post noted in a Thursday report. This particular band, slated for combination with another block for use by public safety agencies, recieved a high bid of only $472 million.

 

Now the FCC must decide what to do about the D block. In a press announcement Thursday, the agency said it is pondering options, but does not plan to immediately re-offer the spectrum in a separate auction.