US spectrum auction raises $13.9bn

Deutsche Telekom-owned T-Mobile paid $4.2bn for 120 licences

The auction of 1,087 radio spectrum licences by the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has ended with T-Mobile, Verizon and a Time Warner-backed consortium as the big winners. 

Deutsche Telekom-owned T-Mobile paid $4.2bn (£2.2bn) for 120 licences, giving it the capacity to compete with its larger rivals in the US. The purchase will also allow T-Mobile to upgrade its network and run 3G services. 

Verizon paid $2.8bn (£1.5bn) for just 13 licences, while a consortium that included Time Warner, Comcast and Sprint Nextel bid $2.4bn (£1.3bn) for 137 spectrum licences. 

The sale raised $13.9bn (£7.3bn) overall, with only 35 of the licences going unsold. FCC chairman Kevin Martin called the sale "the biggest, most successful auction in the commission's history".

The sale was reminiscent of the UK 3G licence auction, when the UK government raised £22.5bn from the winning bidders.