Aug 11, 2009 11:17 AM, By Donny Jackson

Spectrum Bridge yesterday announced that its second quarter included transactions involving $8 million worth of secondary-market spectrum finalized via SpecEx.com, the first time the online spectrum exchange company has claimed completed transactions.

During this period, Spectrum Bridge facilitated airwaves deals that served a variety of sectors, including commercial wireless carriers, railroad and utilities, said Rick Rotondo, vice president of marketing. The deals mark the first completed transactions since the company launched SpecEx.com.

"Sometimes it takes time, but if you have a good product and a good idea, it will happen," he said.

While the transactions involving commercial wireless carrier spectrum were fairly straightforward, other transactions were not. In particular, one utility and a railroad purchased Part 22 spectrum — formerly used for paging — that are being used for Part 90 applications, Rotondo said. In the case of the railroad, the spectrum will be used for a positive train control application that is designed to help prevent train collisions, among other things, he said. 

"The FCC is pretty flexible, and they're being very progressive," Rotondo said. "They want to see spectrum put to use, and if it means modifying the rules slightly in ways that make sense, they’re willing to do it."

In addition to these completed spectrum deals, Spectrum Bridge has many other deals in the pipeline in a variety of sectors, although the company is still awaiting its first deal involving a public-safety agency. The company is hopeful these transactions can be completed in a shorter timeframe as it becomes increasingly familiar with FCC procedures related to spectrum transactions, Rotondo said.

"I don’t know if it's going to speed up because of the FCC, but we certainly know better what we’re doing," he said. "We can help the FCC help us."

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