Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, December 8, 1994                   TAG: 9412090013
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: B-10   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Short

MOBILE-PHONE BIDS HIT $489 MILLION

Billionaire Craig McCaw, who started McCaw Cellular and recently sold it to AT&T, edged out GTE on Tuesday for a license to provide service to New York, the largest and potentially most lucrative market.

A total of 99 licenses permitting companies to provide a more mobile and less expensive phone service than existing cellular is on the block.

McCaw offered $79.2 million for the license - the largest single bid in the second round.

The second-largest bid came from Pacific Telesis for a license to provide service to Los Angeles. The regional Bell remained the highest bidder for the license, offering $38.2 million.

An alliance of Sprint and three major cable companies put up the third-largest single bid of $58 million for a license to serve San Francisco. The alliance replaced the first round's high bidder, Telephone and Data Systems Inc.

Bidding will continue until there are no new bids for any of the 99 licenses on sale. The auction could last for weeks or months.

- Associated Press