Bid Winners in 3.45 GHz Band Auction Will Benefit Consumers with Fast 5G

On January 14, the FCC announced the close of its 3.45-3.55 GHz band auction. And it is reported that AT&T and DISH Networks were leading bid winners for spectrum licenses in the band, with T-Mobile and UScellular also submitting winning bids. According to the Commission's notice: "Auction 110 raised a total of $22,418,284,236 in net bids and $22,513,601,811 in gross bids, with 23 bidders winning a total of 4,041 licenses." 

The successfully completed 3.45 GHz band auction will put much needed mid-band spectrum resources into use for commercial wireless 5G services. But there is more that the FCC can do to help supply America's growing demand for spectrum. As explained in my February 2021 Perspectives from FSF Scholars, "Fast Action on the Lower 3 GHz Band Will Secure America's 5G Future." Also, Free State Foundation President Randolph May and I had addressed important guiding principles to guide Congress and the Commission in addressing this subject in our November 2021 Perspectives, "Constitutional Considerations for Proper Spectrum Policy: A Preference for Private Property Rights and Market Competition." 

Bidding in FCC's 3.45 GHz Spectrum License Auction Nears $21 Billion

The FCC's important auction of spectrum licenses in the 3.45-3.55 GHz band commenced on October 5 of this year. As of today, the gross proceeds of the bidding stand at nearly $21 billion for this 5G-ideal mid-band spectrum. As an October 8 article in FierceWireless by Bevin Fletcher helpfully explains, "[t]he 3.45 GHz band is licensed in ten 10-megahertz blocks in each partial economic area (PEA), with a total of 4,060 licenses." However, the Commission's rules for this auction place a 40-MHz limit on the amount of spectrum than any winner can acquire and the licenses are subject to restrictions related to government agencies' shared use of the spectrum. The auction's rules included a reserve price of $14.77 billion, so by that measure FCC Auction 110 can be considered a success. The latest information about the auction is available at Mr. Sasha Javid's website. 

I briefly wrote about the 3.45 GHz band and my previous Perspectives from FSF Scholars about lower 3 GHz band spectrum in an October 4 blog post. Free State Foundation scholars will have more to say about federal spectrum policy and FCC spectrum license auctions in the very near future.