FCC Offers Online Tool to Search Licenses

WASHINGTON, September 14, 2010 – The Federal Communications Commission on Tuesday unveiled a tool allowing anyone to view licenses overseen by the agency. A quick tour of www.fcc.gov/licenseview, shows that there are about 3 million total managed licenses, of which about 2 million are active.

WASHINGTON, September 14, 2010 – The Federal Communications Commission on Tuesday unveiled a tool allowing anyone to view licenses overseen by the agency.

A quick tour of www.fcc.gov/licenseview, shows that there are about 3 million total managed licenses, of which about 2 million are active.

Sprint Nextel is the clear winner of holding the most active licenses, clocking in at 45,840, followed by Clearwire at 12,832, AT&T at 8,808 and Verizon with just over 8,000. A full list is available at the licenseview web site. You can also search licenses. For example, a search for “Google” shows that the firm has five land mobile radio licenses.

You can also look up how many licenses are eligible for renewal. In August 2011, there are about 16,800 licenses eligible for renewal, but that number drops sharply in September to about 4,500.