LAS VEGAS--Verizon Wireless executives said at Wireless 2006 here that they will decide in the next few weeks whether they will bid on spectrum in the Advanced Wireless Services auction scheduled to take place this June or wait and invest resources in bidding in a 700 MHz auction that will not occur until at least next year.

The AWS spectrum ranges from 1700 MHz to 2100 MHz. FCC Chairman Kevin Martin said in a keynote presentation this morning that executing the AWS auction on time is the agency's top current priority.

Verizon Wireless CEO Denny Strigl said, "Regarding 700 MHz, we're interested in it, but we've not made a decision yet about the AWS auction. We will do one or the other, but not both." Strigl added that the company would make a decision within the next few weeks.

The FCC has been positioning 700 MHz, once cleared of broadcast operators, as potential spectrum for broadband wireless services such as WiMAX. On the subject of WiMAX, Verizon executives seemed less uncertain about how they feel. Dick Lynch, the chief technology officer of the carrier giant, said, "I like to liken WiMAX to just another air interface with an IP backend. In my mind, it's short-hand for OFDM [orthogonal frequency division multiplexing]," he said. "Whether WiMAX survives as an independent air interface, the jury hasn't even been sequestered yet to decide that. It's a lot of commercial hype right now."

Meanwhile, Lynch said OFDM will become an increasingly important technology component of mobile broadband networks, regardless of the air interface involved.