The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has published a list of qualified bidders ahead of ‘Auction 102’ – its sale of Upper Microwave Flexible Use Service (UMFUS) licences in the 24.25GHz-24.45GHz/24.75GHz-25.25GHz (24GHz) band – which is due to commence on 14 March.
Notable bidders include the likes of AT&T (bidding as AT&T Spectrum Frontiers), Verizon Wireless (bidding as Cellco Partnership), T-Mobile US, US Cellular and Windstream. An additional bidder, ATI Sub, is said to be an affiliate of Sprint Corp. Participants targeting the US territories of Guam and the Northern Marianas Islands, meanwhile, include DOCOMO Pacific and GTA (bidding as TeleGuam Holdings). A separate list of 22 entities not qualified to bid includes the likes of Cox Communications and Frontier Communications.
Auction 102 represents the FCC’s second sale of 5G-suitable millimetre wave (mmWave) spectrum in recent months. As previously reported by TeleGeography’s CommsUpdate, Auction 101, which comprised spectrum in the 27.5GHz–28.35GHz (28GHz) band, concluded on 24 January, after 176 rounds of bidding. Auction 101 generated total bids of USD702.57 million, with offers for 2,965 of the 3,072 available licences.
