The federal government's latest sale of airwaves will enable wireless companies to provide Hawai'i consumers with a wider array of Internet and dedicated video services.

Four wireless companies spent nearly $20 million to acquire spectrum licenses for airwaves in the Islands during a recent Federal Communications Commission auction.

The top bidders were T-Mobile ($8 million), Verizon Wireless ($4.3 million), SpectrumCo ($3.8 million) and Cingular Wireless ($3.6 million).

SpectrumCo is a joint venture between Sprint Nextel, Time Warner and Comcast.

T-Mobile and Verizon Wireless said they could not comment further on the auction because of FCC restrictions. Under FCC rules, winning bidders cannot discuss plans for their licenses until they make a down payment, which is required within 10 days of the auction's close.

"Auction winners are expected to use this prime spectrum real estate to roll out new devices, which will allow consumers to access the Internet and dedicated video services wherever they want, whenever they want," said FCC Chairman Kevin Martin. "For example, sports fans watching their favorite team will no longer need to wait until they get home to catch up on the games — they will be able to watch highlights and obtain scores on their mobile devices in real-time."

The licenses issued by the FCC for Hawai'i were part of a nationwide auction of public airwaves that concluded last week. The FCC said the auction was the largest and most lucrative in its history, with bids totaling nearly $13.9 billion.

The commission auctioned off 1,087 licenses over 28 days. The FCC said it was the largest amount of radio spectrum usable for wireless services made available since the agency went to an auction format in 1994. The proceeds, still to be collected, will go to the U.S. Treasury.

The FCC said it auctioned off enough spectrum to build an entirely new national wireless network and vastly improve services offered by existing wireless providers.

Reach Sean Hao at shao@honoluluadvertiser.com.