US communications regulator the FCC closed the country’s Advanced Wireless Spectrum (AWS) auction Monday afternoon, reaping almost $14bn (£7.4bn) in bids.

As expected, T-Mobile USA was the biggest spender, splashing out over $4bn on licenses. Although T-Mobile made no comment on its plans, the operator is widely expected to use the licences to launch 3G services later this year.

Meanwhile, wireless broadband player NextWave scored the largest number of licenses at 154, but only spent $115.5m. The SpectrumCo consortium, headed up by Sprint Nextel and a handful of cable operators, bagged the second largest number of licenses, picking up 137 licenses for $2.4bn.

Verizon Wireless was another big spender, with $2.8bn in bids, as was regional player MetroPCS and Cingular Wireless.