Spectrum auction may boost gear makers' future

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Wireless network equipment makers may see a flurry of new orders in the next two years after a $19 billion government auction of wireless airwaves, analysts said.

The top two U.S. mobile services AT&T Inc and Verizon Wireless were the biggest spenders in the auction.

Equipment makers that may benefit include Ericsson, Alcatel-Lucent, Nortel Networks, Nokia Siemens, owned by Nokia and Siemens AG, Motorola Inc, China's Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd and ZTE Corp, analysts said.

While some analysts see the outcome as less of a boost than if a newcomer like Google Inc had won spectrum in the auction that ended this week, others say the auction may lead to spending of about $9 billion on network gear in coming years.

AT&T, which spent over $6 billion in the auction, and Verizon Wireless, which spent more than $9 billion, said they would use the airwaves to expand data services, which include everything from Web surfing to music downloads.

"It could provide some lift as these carriers expand their networks. The telling sign is whether we see meaningful capital spending committed now that the auction process is over," said RBC analyst Mark Sue.

The auctioned airwaves are being vacated by television broadcasters as they move to digital television services.

Neither AT&T nor Verizon has said on what technology they will base the networks that will use the new spectrum, but one analyst said they will likely use the airwaves for services they plan to build using high-speed mobile technology known as Long Term Evolution (LTE).

LTE is not expected to be ready for use in commercial networks until 2010 and beyond, making it hard to predict today how much the LTE equipment will cost, Pacific Crest Securities analyst Steve Clement said .