FCC Completes its Largest 5G mm-Wave Spectrum Auction for 37, 39 and 47 GHz Bands
The bidding for the latest 5G mm-Wave Spectrum auction in the United States has now completed. Auction 103, made 3400 MHz of millimeter-wave spectrum available for bidding in the Upper 37 GHz, 39 GHz, and 47 GHz bands. The auction had a total of $7 Billion ($7,558,703,201) in net bids, with 28 bidders winning a total of 14,142 of 14,144, or more than 99.9%, of available licenses.
The successful conclusion of Auction 103—the largest amount of spectrum offered in an auction in U.S. history—is one more significant step the FCC has taken toward maintaining American leadership in 5G. A critical part of the FCC 5G FAST plan is pushing more spectrum into the commercial marketplace. Last year, the FCC auctioned the 28 GHz and 24 GHz bands. All told, those two auctions and this one have made available almost 5 GHz of high-band spectrum for commercial use. To put that in perspective more spectrum will be available than the current spectrum used for terrestrial mobile broadband by all wireless service providers in the United States combined. Auction 103 was a tremendous success, and FCC looks forward to building on this positive result with the 3.5 GHz auction, which is scheduled to begin on June 25, and the C-band auction, which is scheduled to begin on December 8. Click here to read more.
