US wireless auction hits a record with two weeks to go

The US wireless spectrum auction has hit $9.3bn with at least two weeks to run.

The 19th round of the auction for 2G and 3G licences has broken the 1996 record of $9.2bn as carriers battle to complete their national networks and increase capacity in the top markets. Verizon Wireless, the joint venture between the UK's Vodafone and Verizon Communications, has bid a total of $3.47bn including $790.2m for a licence in New York City, $494m for Chicago and $424.6m for Los Angeles. Competition in the big cities will be fierce as most operators do not have the capacity to meet surging US demand for mobile phone calls. Incomplete, dropped calls are consumers' biggest complaint and the operator which first eliminates them will gain a tremendous commercial advantage. There have been suggestions that Nextel, the second smallest operator, only entered the auction to bid up the costs for competitors. It has now dropped out.