Towerstream Corp...[a] small fixed-wireless Internet provider is one of about 260 companies nationwide vying for pieces of a wireless spectrum being vacated by analog TV stations as they move to digital signals next year...

...Right now, Towerstream uses a mix of spectrum it licenses from other companies and spectrum it owns. For that reason, Thompson said the auction isn’t a make-or-break situation for the company. “We have plenty of spectrum right now, but we have a great opportunity that we won’t have again,” Thompson said...

...Meanwhile, Towerstream has qualified for a 25-percent bidding discount under a small-business provision set up by the FCC to make bidding more competitive...

...The company – which was founded by Thompson and Philip Urso, the company president, in 2001 – went public last January through a reverse merger involving a shell company called University Girls Calendar. The move allowed Towerstream to avoid the traditional, more expensive route of an initial public offering.

In the five years before going public, Towerstream had raised about $10 million and had a sales staff of 15.

In 2007, Towerstream raised about $55 million by going public and quickly moved from over-the-counter trading to the Nasdaq stock exchange. The company now has a sales force of about 100 in training. With a new sales center in Middletown, the company is aiming to have a staff of about 180 by year’s end.