ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times

DATE: Saturday, April 26, 1997               TAG: 9704280039
SECTION: BUSINESS                 PAGE: A-10 EDITION: METRO 
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS

COMMUNICATION LICENSES SOLD THE 128 LICENCES BROUGHT IN MUCH LESS MONEY THAN HAD BEEN ANTICIPATED.

Government licenses to provide wireless phone, television and data services, including Internet access, fetched nearly $14 million at auction Friday - far below congressional estimates.

The Federal Communications Commission, at Congress' request, auctioned a total of 128 licenses, each permitting a company to use a slice of the public airwaves and to serve specific geographic markets.

The figure fell far short of the $1.8 billion Congress estimated the auction would bring to the U.S. Treasury.

A unit of BellSouth Corp. was the highest bidder, offering $6.2 million for 22 licenses. The company is interested in using the licenses to provide cable TV service.

Government officials said the auction brought much less than the estimated $1.8 billion because the FCC was rushed to get the auction started by April 15 - as Congress required.

As a result, many interested companies did not have enough time to get business plans and financing together, officials said.

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