Just a few months ago, the upcoming FCC radio wave auctions were generating a slew of interest from non-traditional telecom players like Google, Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG). With the 700MHz (megahertz) being opened up once analog TV waves go away in 2009, this is quite simply one of the last large pieces of radio bandwidth that companies will be able to buy into and use for all kinds of wireless services. But wait -- is interest petering out already just before the auctions begin later this month?

When Frontline Wireless dropped out of the bidding just recently, the possibility of a new national wireless carrier went down the tubes. Did incumbent telecoms like AT&T, Inc. (NYSE: T) and Verizon Communications, Inc. (NYSE: VZ) lose all interest in bidding themselves? That's the thinking in the market right now, but how far that thinking goes compared to who will actually bid (and how high) remains to be seen until the auction begins.

All hope is not lost for the FCC, though. The discounted portion of the airwave auction that Frontline Wireless was seeking contained stipulations to share airwave space with public safety and related utilities. With no other national airwave bidder in line for that kind of radio spectrum, the FCC may be forced to re-auction it at a later data minus some of the stipulations that contributed to it being discounted in the first place. If the normal 700MHz radio spectrum is already taken, that could be a dead end for the FCC. Or, it could sell that specific radio spectrum for a much lower price that it had originally envisioned.