MetroPCS buys more spectrum Dallas wireless firm can now operate in 6 new markets, including LA

February 16, 2005

SECOND EDITION
THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS
BYLINE: VIKAS BAJAJ, Staff Writer

Dallas-based MetroPCS Inc. won cellphone licenses for six markets including Los Angeles in a government auction that ended Tuesday.

The company will spend $280.9 million to expand into the nation's biggest metro area and to further broaden its Florida operations. MetroPCS bid through Royal Street Communications, an affiliate it owns 85 percent of.

MetroPCS purchased cellular spectrum in Dallas and Detroit from Cingular Wireless for $230 million late last year. Previously, MetroPCS served only Northern California, the Atlanta area and South Florida.

The Federal Communications Commission auction raised $2 billion from selling 217 licenses. Verizon Wireless was the largest bidder, spending about $700 million on its own and through affiliates for licenses in Houston, St. Louis, Seattle, Oklahoma City and dozens of other cities.

Most of the licenses in the auction were for spectrum the FCC got in a legal settlement with NextWave Communications, a wireless company that went bankrupt after bidding too much for the licenses in the mid-1990s. NextWave never used the wireless frequencies for cellphone service, and the auction concludes a lengthy legal battle.

MetroPCS, then General Wireless, also went bankrupt after bidding for licenses in the '90s. But it started selling service in early 2002 and has built a profitable business offering flat-rate, all-you-can-talk service in its three markets. It expects to start a similar service in Dallas later this year.

A company spokeswoman declined to comment on the bids, citing FCC rules designed to prevent collusion, which bar companies from talking about the auctions for up to 10 days after they end.

An FCC spokesman said the agency will officially announce winning bids in a few days, though bidding records were on the agency's Web site.

In Los Angeles, MetroPCS won the biggest market up for sale and the nation's largest by population. It also gained a presence in the Florida cities of Orlando, Jacksonville, Gainesville, Lakeland-Winter Haven and Melbourne-Titusville. It already operates in Miami, Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach, Fort Meyers, Port Charlotte, Naples and the Keys.

E-mail vbajaj@dallasnews.com

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