Paul Allen Still Suffering From Investor Attention Deficit Disorder
by John Paczkowski
Posted on December 19, 2007 at 12:01 AM PT
The Federal Communications Commission’s “beachfront” spectrum auction in January will, for the most part, be a multibillion-dollar bidding war among the usual suspects. And one or two unusual ones as well.
Among the more than 260 applicants included on the bidder list released last night by the FCC (accepted applications; incomplete applications) are AT&T, Verizon Wireless, Cox Communications, Google (bidding as Google Airwaves Inc.), MetroPCS, Qualcomm, National Datacast (the for-profit subsidiary of the Public Broadcasting Service), Alltel, Towerstream, Chevron and Frontier Wireless (EchoStar).
And then there’s zillionaire investor Paul Allen–Microsoft’s other founder (pictured above). Applications from Vulcan Spectrum LLC and Bend Cable Communications LLC, both Allen-backed ventures, have been accepted by the FCC. Seems Allen fancies himself the Pied Piper of the Wired World, and the Wireless World as well. Perhaps someday we’ll have the Paul Allen Brain Atlas, the Paul Allen Telescope Array and the Paul Allen Advanced Wireless Services Spectrum.
