By Gary Arlen, Multichannel News, 8-17-20
The 280 megahertz of midband spectrum which is intended for 5G and other advanced services has been fully approved to go to auction starting Tuesday, Dec. 8, under a plan that the Federal Communications Commission adopted on Aug. 6. The controversial auction of the 3.7 to 3.98 GHz midband frequencies is expected to generate 5,684 new flexible-use overlay licenses and about $10 billion in payments to spectrum holders.
The new plan envisions procedures to ensure that auction winners receive contiguous spectrum blocks that will enable wide channel bandwidths to support 5G deployment. In the FCC’s partisan 3-2 decision, Democrats Jessica Rosenworcel and Geoffrey Sparks dissented from the process by which the auction plan was implemented. » Read More