FCC Begins Major 5g
Spectrum Auction
December 8, 2020
The Federal Communications
Commission kicked off its latest 5G spectrum
auction, making available 280 megahertz of prime
mid-band spectrum in the 3.7-3.98 GHz band—a
portion of the C-band. This
is the FCC’s largest mid-band 5G spectrum
auction to date.
“This is a big day for
American consumers and U.S. leadership in 5G,”
said FCC Chairman Ajit Pai.
“By freeing up this wide swath of critical
mid-band spectrum, the FCC is paving the way for
Americans to receive fast 5G wireless services.
Together with the recent success of our
3.5 GHz band auction, our work to auction the
2.5 GHz and 3.45 GHz bands in 2021, and the
other ground-breaking spectrum auctions we’ve
held since 2017, our 5G FAST Plan is in full
swing. American consumers and
businesses will benefit from this FCC’s efforts
for years to come.”
Chairman Pai proposed and
instituted a plan to repurpose the C-band
quickly. As a result, this
mid-band spectrum will be available to deliver
next-generation connectivity to American
consumers and businesses years ahead of
schedule. The FCC
successfully secured commitments from fixed
satellite companies to move quickly out of the
3.7-3.98 GHz band and into the upper portion of
the C-band, which will free up this crucial
mid-band spectrum for 5G wireless services.
The first round of the
clock phase of the auction will start today at
10 a.m. ET. This auction will
offer 5,684 new flexible-use overlay licenses
based on Partial Economic Areas (PEAs) for
spectrum in the 3.7–3.98 GHz band.
This spectrum holds the potential to be
prime spectrum for 5G services given its
combination of geographic coverage and capacity,
and the FCC’s auction procedures will ensure the
assignment to auction winners of contiguous
spectrum blocks allowing wide channel bandwidths
that support 5G deployment.
Satellite operators
currently using the C-Band have agreed to repack
their operations out of the band’s lower 300
megahertz (3.7-4.0 GHz) into the upper 200
megahertz (4.0-4.2 GHz). The
first phase of this transition—the clearing of
120 megahertz of spectrum from 3.7-3.82 GHz in
46 of the nation’s top 50 PEAs—will conclude by
December 5, 2021. The second
phase—clearing the lower 120 megahertz of
spectrum in the remaining PEAs, plus an
additional 180 megahertz from 3.82-4.0 GHz
nationwide—will conclude by December 5, 2023.