Data provided by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has confirmed that ‘Auction 102’ – the regulator’s sale of Upper Microwave Flexible Use Service (UMFUS) licences in the 24.25GHz-24.45GHz/24.75GHz-25.25GHz (24GHz) band – surpassed the USD1 billion mark on Friday 22 March, reaching USD1.094 billion after just seven days of bidding.
The bidding activity shows no sign of slowing down, with offers reaching USD1.410 billion yesterday (Monday 25th March), meaning that the process has now doubled the USD702.6 million raised in the FCC’s auction of 28GHz spectrum (‘Auction 101’), which took place between November 2018 and January 2019.
The 38 registered 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).