\tBidding in a US auction of 24GHz spectrum quickly surpassed the $702.6 million total [1]\u00a0recently achieved in the country’s first 5G auction, reflecting strong operator interest in unencumbered mmWave bands.<\/p>\n
A week after it began, gross proceeds in the 24GHz auction hit upwards of $861 million at the close of 17 rounds of bidding.<\/p>\n
Licences in New York City and Los Angeles drew the highest bids, with the top offer for the former coming in at $23.2 million and the latter $17.9 million.<\/p>\n
Chicago and San Francisco followed, drawing top bids of $8.6 million and $8.3 million, respectively.<\/p>\n
The fierce competition demonstrates strong interest in a mmWave band Wells Fargo Securities recently noted offers a \u201cclean slate\u201d for operators. Though a 28GHz auction held earlier in the year put similar airwaves on offer, Verizon already owned many of the major market licences in the band when bidding began.<\/p>\n
AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, T-Mobile US and US Cellular are all listed as qualified bidders in the 24GHz auction.<\/p>\n
Bidding follows the same format as the Federal Communications Commission\u2019s 600MHz proceeding held in 2017 [2], wherein an initial phase of offers on generic blocks in each market will be followed by an assignment phase during which winners can bid for specific frequencies.<\/p>\n
Winners from both the 28GHz and 24GHz auctions will be announced at the close of the latter. A third mmWave sale of spectrum in the 37GHz, 39GHz and 47GHz bands is scheduled for later this year.<\/p>\n[1] https:\/\/www.mobileworldlive.com\/featured-content\/top-three\/us-completes-first-5g-auction\/
\n[2] https:\/\/www.mobileworldlive.com\/featured-content\/home-banner\/fcc-incentive-auction-nets-19-6b\/<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Bidding in a US auction of 24GHz spectrum quickly surpassed the $702.6 million total recently achieved …<\/p>\n
The post US operators go large on mmWave auction<\/a> appeared first on Mobile World Live<\/a>.<\/p>\n