The US regulator set out the detail for the 3.5GHz band award, and proposed rules for the C-Band auction to take place later in the year.
Background: During 2019, the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) awarded mmWave spectrum for 5G across several bands. In January 2019, it completed the auction of the 28GHz band, and it is currently in the process to award spectrum in the 37GHz, 39GHz, and 47GHz bands which started in December 2019. During 2019, the FCC also announced 2020 would be the year for ‘mid-band’ spectrum awards: in particular, the 3.5GHz band was scheduled to be assigned in June 2020.
The 3.5GHz rules are set: On 28 February 2020, the FCC confirmed that the 3.5GHz auction (Auction 105) will start on 25 June 2020. This auction will offer up to seven Priority Access Licences (PALs) in each county-based licence area, for a total of 22,631 PALs nationwide. Each PAL will consist of a 10MHz TDD lot in the 3.55–3.65GHz range. The FCC set out an ascending clock auction format, in which bidders indicate their demand for generic licence blocks in specific counties as prices increase. Participants will be able to bid on a county-by-county basis, for no more than four generic blocks of spectrum per county. The FCC also set ‘bidding credit caps’ of $25m for small businesses and $10m for rural service providers, as well as a $10m cap on the overall amount of bidding credits that a small business bidder may apply to winning licences in smaller markets.
The proposal for the C-band is out: The FCC also published its proposal for the C-band (3.7–4.2GHz). During 2019, the C-Band Alliance, which includes the satellite players currently using the band, proposed to carry out a private auction itself, though the FCC rejected the proposal and took the matter in its own hands. This auction (Auction 107) is now scheduled for December 2020. The FCC will allocate 5,684 new flexible-use overlay licenses. It proposes two categories of blocks in each region: five 20MHz blocks in the lower 100MHz (3.7–3.8GHz) and nine 20MHz blocks in the remaining 180MHz (3.8– 3.98 GHz). The FCC seeks comments on its proposal until 1 May 2020.
