The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has completed the 3.5 GHz spectrum auction (Auction 105) – raising $4.585 billion…FCC will reveal the name of winners later. There were 271 eligible bidders including AT&T, Cox, Shenandoah Cable TV, USSC, and Windstream, among others. Bidders won 20,625 of 22,631, or more than 91.1 percent, of available licenses…The auction of Priority Access Licenses in the 3550-3650 MHz band, which was designated as Auction 105, made available the greatest number of spectrum licenses ever in a single FCC auction, the telecom regulator said.
(telecomlead, August 26)
Ankit Malhotra's key takeaways:
- This auction is a part of the 5G FAST Plan by the FCC – a comprehensive strategy to ‘Facilitate America’s Superiority in 5G Technology’.
- The FCC will also open 280 more megahertz of mid-band spectrum for 5G in the C-band in December.
- FCC generated $20 billion in 600 MHz spectrum just 3 years ago, of which T-Mobile was the biggest winner.
- The list of winners will be announced soon, but expectations are Verizon will have been the most aggressive given their lack of mid and low-band spectrum ownership.