Qualcomm's New 700 MHz Licenses to Double its FLO TV Spectrum

In the FCC's recent 700 MHz spectrum auction, Qualcomm won eight licenses at a total cost of $558.1 million.

Specifically, Qualcomm purchased licenses in the E block covering the Boston, Los Angeles, New York City, Philadelphia and San Francisco Economic Area regions. These licenses double Qualcomm's 700 MHz spectrum holdings throughout a footprint of more than 68 million people in 28 individual markets for MediaFLO USA's "FLO TV" service (21 of its top 100 markets) at a cost of $554.6 million. In addition, Qualcomm purchased three licenses on the B block at a cost of $3.5 million.


Qualcomm's E block licenses cover five of the nation's top seven Economic Area regions. These regions consist of large contiguous areas on the East and West Coasts, stretching from New Hampshire to Maryland and from Orange County to Northern California, respectively.


Qualcomm said the new E block spectrum will give MediaFLO USA greater flexibility to deliver additional content and services in these top markets, building on the Channel 55 spectrum for which Qualcomm already owns licenses in these markets and throughout the rest of the country and the FLO TV service now available to more to more than 130 million people.


In addition, Qualcomm won the B block in the California-Imperial, New Jersey-Hunterdon and Yuba City, Calif. Cellular Market Areas. These licenses will provide Qualcomm with 12 MHz of paired 700 MHz spectrum near key Qualcomm offices to enable the company's R&D teams to test new mobile broadband technologies.http://www.qualcomm.comhttp://www.flotv.com/