US tops $80bn in record 5G spectrum auction
The US Federal Communications Commission is seeing a record $80.9bn (€67bn) in its latest 5G spectrum auction.
The auction, the last before chairman Ajit Pai steps down on Wednesday when president-elect Joe Biden is inaugurated, is for 280MHz in the 3.7-3.98 GHz C-band.
While Pai hails the success of auction 107, it is reminiscent of the record-breaking 4G spectrum auctions in the UK back in 2011 that operators later flagged as counter-productive as they actually slowed the rollout.
- UK PREPARES AUCTION FOR 4G SPECTRUM- 2011
- UK 4G WIRELESS SPECTRUM AUCTION CRITICAL IN DETERMINING WINNERS
“This historic FCC auction is already a record-breaking success. Bidders have won all of the 5,684 spectrum blocks that were up for bid. And gross proceeds have exceeded $80.9 billion, shattering the prior FCC auction record of $44.9bn,” said Pai, who said he will step down
“These results represent a strong endorsement by the private sector of the service rules and transition plan put in place by the FCC to quickly make the C-band a critical part of 5G rollout in the United States,” he said. ” And they vindicate the hard choices the FCC made during the C-band proceeding—and that we made them. The FCC confronted a host of technical, legal, practical, and political challenges in structuring this auction. It would have been easy to delay. But we rightly pushed ahead and overcame every one of those obstacles. As a result, we significantly advanced United States leadership in 5G and have enabled America’s wireless consumers to more quickly benefit from 5G services.”
Next: Positioning for 5G and 6G
“Over the past few years, the FCC has made the tough calls needed to secure US leadership in 5G,” said commissioner Brendan Carr in a separate statement. “Chairman Pai deserves credit for freeing up the airwaves needed to power high-speed Internet services. The close of the C-Band auction today further ensures that the strongest 5G platform in the world will be built here in the US, and the results make clear that we made the right decision to move forward.”
Winning bidders will now have the opportunity to bid for frequency-specific licenses in the assignment phase of Auction 107. The FCC will release a public notice soon announcing further details regarding the assignment phase, including the date and time when bidding in the assignment phase will start.
Related 5G and 6G articles
- SWISS INTERCONNECT SPECIALIST JOINS 450MHz ALLIANCE
- SLOVENIA’S UPGRADE TAKES JUST ONE WEEK
- WORLD’S FIRST 700MHz DATA CALL MADE IN CHINA
- 700MHz UK SPECTRUM AUCTION OPENS UP CELLULAR IOT
- NEXT G ALLIANCE DRIVES US PROGRAMME
- MAJOR 6G PROJECT STARTS IN EUROPE
Other articles on eeNews Europe
- Pacemaker risk from latest iPhone
- The best of CES 2021
- $400m takes OneWeb satellite network to full rollout
- Gelsinger returns to lead Intel
- Europe in €13bn space shake up
If you enjoyed this article, you will like the following ones: don't miss them by subscribing to :
