The FCC just announced the closure of the spectrum auction for the 700 MHz TV bands.

The Commission has announced the closing of Auction 73, assigning over 1,000 licenses for much of the 700 MHz band, at just under $19.6 billion in final bids. This impressive sum is almost double the amount that was estimated for this auction, and it exceeds the final receipts of all previous U.S. spectrum auctions combined.

My reaction is : holy crap. Hopefully there will be a similar amount of financial interest in research directed at utilizing that shared spectrum efficiently…