Investors Eyeing 2500 Licenses for Personal Communications Services
PALO ALTO, Calif. — December 8, 1993 — In May 1994 the FCC is scheduled to begin auctioning 2500 licenses for Personal Communication Services.
AT&T, Ameritech, Bell Atlantic, and hundreds of other large companies as well as possibly thousands of small ones are expected to bid for licenses. Bids are expected to range into the billions of dollars, and potential bidders are busily developing auction strategies.
To aid companies in developing a successful PCS bidding strategy, Killen & Associates is publishing a multi-client study this month–PCS Auctioning Strategies: Competing from the High Ground–that analyzes the major and secondary markets for PCS and focuses on the licenses/markets that have the greatest value. This study provides a model for estimating the value of a license and provides scenarios of strategies that may be executed by nearly two dozen major players.
Killen & Associates analyses include anticipated strategies for:
–American Satellite
–Ameritech
–ARDIS
–AT&T
–Cable & Wireless
–Contel
–GTE
–IBM
–Jones Intercable
–Knight-Ridder
–McCaw
–MCI
–PacTel
–Pacific Bell
–Stentor
–TCI
–Time Warner
–US West
–Viacom
–The Washington Post
In researching this topic, Killen & Associates has concluded that the FCC's decision to use Rand McNally's "Trading Areas" – which are intellectual property – to define the boundaries of the licenses to be auctioned may be very costly and not in the best interest of the nation. Michael Killen, president of the research firm, stated, "It is going to cost us (the nation) now and well into the foreseeable future if any company's intellectual property is used to define the boundaries for these licenses."
Killen & Associates, contesting the use of Rand McNally's construct, is petitioning the FCC to reconsider its decision and, as an alternative, urges the adoption of the public-domain Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) for defining license boundaries.
This study is Killen & Associates' second offering to help companies prepare for the PCS auction. In October 1993 the company also announced an Executive Video Briefing–Personal Communications Services: Preparing for the Great Auction–that featured Dr. Tom Stanley, chief engineer, U.S. Federal Communications Commission; Steve Zecola, vice president for PCS, MCI Corp.; Michael Senkowski, Partner – Wiley, Rien & Fielding; Tom Stroup, president, Telecator, The Personal Communications Industry Association; and Alfred Sikes, former chairman of the FCC under the Bush Administration.
Killen & Assoc. Inc. produces telecommunications and computer business studies that are used by executives in supplier, user, and investment organizations worldwide. The company also develops television programs and Executive Video Briefings, and stages television events. Michael Killen, president of the company, personally conducts all interviews for these productions.
Killen has written four books on computing and hosts The Killen Report, an information technology/business issue TV talk show.
CONTACT:
Killen & Associates
Jules Street, 415/323-3842