Winners in 3.45 GHz Auction May Be Revealed in Dec.: New Street
Winners in the 3.45 GHz auction should be clear by Dec. 31, New Street’s Philip Burnett told investors Wednesday. The first phase ended Tuesday (see 2111160071). The assignment phase is likely to be over in one or two weeks once…
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it starts, he said. AT&T likely spent as much as $9 billion, T-Mobile $8 billion and Dish Network $4 billion-$6 billion, he said: “There is a slim chance that T-Mobile got nothing and Verizon is the [complement], but that would be a big surprise.” NTIA tweeted Wednesday: “The results indicate confidence in the sharing framework for the band, developed by @FCC, @DeptofDefense, and NTIA.” Bidders “have reaffirmed how important it is for the U.S. communications industry to gain access to additional spectrum" for 5G, emailed Wiley’s Richard Engelman: “Bidders demanded 3.45 GHz blocks in every Partial Economic Area and at prices that approached -- or in some cases exceeded -- the prices paid earlier this year” in the C band auction. The level of bidding in the C band and 3.45 GHz auctions “demonstrates the demand for operators to gain spectrum that can help them deliver high-bandwidth, high-capacity connectivity in dense areas -- even if it costs them,” emailed Ronny Haraldsvik, Cohere Technologies chief marketing officer: “Carriers in the US now need to find the best way to leverage this hefty investment. Through the use of software, carriers can do a lot more with their existing and new spectrum assets, effectively doubling the capacity of the spectrum.” The 5Gfor12GHz Coalition said now that the auction is nearly complete, the FCC should take up the 12 GHz band, which offers five times as much spectrum: “This is an important accomplishment but will not satisfy the urgent need for more spectrum. 12 GHz is the only remaining unencumbered 5G spectrum between 6 and 24 GHz that can meet the exploding demand for mobile broadband.”