Communications Daily is a service of Warren Communications News.
Subscriber Login

Wireless Spectrum Auctions

The FCC manages and licenses the electromagnetic spectrum used by wireless, broadcast, satellite and other telecommunications services for government and commercial users. This activity includes organizing specific telecommunications modes to only use specific frequencies and maintaining the licensing systems for each frequency such that communications services and devices using different bands receive as little interference as possible.

What are spectrum auctions?

The FCC will periodically hold auctions of unused or newly available spectrum frequencies, in which potential licensees can bid to acquire the rights to use a specific frequency for a specific purpose. As an example, over the last few years the U.S. government has conducted periodic auctions of different GHz bands to support the growth of 5G services.

to
articlessource documents
Refine Trend Search
Clear Terms

Search Primer

Term list: Separate terms with spaces, not commas or semicolons.

Multi-word term: Place inside quotes to ensure an exact match (e.g. "China import").

Acronyms: Use all capital letters to ensure the search is not looking for that letter sequence instead.

Required term: If a term must be included in any resulting articles, prefix it with a plus sign (e.g., +CBP).

Excluded term: If a term should be excluded from any articles being found, prefix it with a minus sign (e.g., -ruling).

Singular form: Always use the singular form when doing multi-word terms (e.g. "russian export control" instead of "russian export controls").

Shortest word form: When you have different word forms in a quoted (multi-word) term, you want to only include the shortest version if it is the last part of the expression (e.g., "entity list" instead of "entity listing" or "entity listed").

U.S. Could Fall Behind Unless FCC Auction Authority Is Restored: Gomez
January 11, 2024 by Howard Buskirk|Top News

FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez warned at the CES in Las Vegas that the U.S. could fall behind other nations unless the agency once again has authority to conduct spectrum auctions. The remarks were her first at a CES as an FCC member. Meanwhile, Commissioner Brendan Carr, also at the show, said the FCC is moving backward on spectrum. Carr slammed the administration’s national spectrum strategy for not opening any new spectrum (see 2401100032), which he called “a bit of a miss.” CTA officials said Carr and Gomez toured the CES show floor together Wednesday.

Topics:Wireless Spectrum Auctions
Future of Dish Wireless, USCellular Top Wireless Questions: New Street
January 9, 2024 |Wireless

One of the big wireless questions for 2024 is whether Dish Network will succeed as a fourth national wireless provider, New Street’s Blair Levin said in a weekend note to investors. Another is whether another carrier will buy USCellular, he wrote. He added: “There is a question about whether any potential buyers would face a risk of a government rejection, particularly given the views of Democratic antitrust authorities and the results of the last major acquisition to face an FCC review (T-Mobile/Sprint)." Any buyer other than AT&T, T-Mobile or Verizon would likely see easy approval, he noted. “Lots of studies are in the pipeline” in the aftermath of the national spectrum strategy, but “these won’t lead to more spectrum coming online before 2025,” Levin said. No resolution appears likely soon on the lower 3 GHz band, but 12 GHz “is the one place” the FCC could authorize a new band for terrestrial use, he said: "Depending on if and how the FCC does it, it could be a boost for DISH.” Levin also predicted Congress could authorize the FCC to sell returned AWS 3 licenses. Congress could authorize a “targeted reauction” without addressing broader DOD concerns “that are blocking efforts to reauthorize spectrum auctions.”

Topics:Wireless Spectrum Auctions