The US regulator has finalised the first high-band 5G award, and there is more to come soon.
Background: The FCC commenced the auction of 28GHz “Upper Microwave Flexible Use Service Licences” (UMFUS) in November 2019, the first high-band award for 5G services. 3,072 licences were made available to the 40 bidders admitted to the process.
What’s new? On 24 January 2019, the FCC announced the auction was over after no activity occurred in the 176th round of bidding. The proceedings raised a total of USD702.6m for the award of 2,965 licences.
Who won, and next steps: We do not yet know the identities of the winners, seeing as the FCC has not disclosed it and required bidders to keep this information confidential until the end of the next auction (Auction 102) which is scheduled to begin shortly, and offer airwaves in the 24.25GHz-24.45GHz and 24.75GHz-25.25GHz ranges. During 2019, the FCC also plans to award spectrum in the 37GHz, 39GHz, and 47GHz bands.
