Federal Communications Commission (FCC) official Mike O’Rielly has indicated that – despite a number of technical breakthroughs – an auction of 3.5GHz is unlikely to take place before mid-2020. RCR Wireless quotes the commissioner as saying: ‘I frankly don’t see a way it could happen before second quarter 2020. That is just not soon enough. We seem to be stuck in the abyss of auction software development and technical-sounding excuses. Procrastination must end, and the auction must be scheduled.’ The comments were made at the recent CBRS Alliance annual meeting in North Carolina.
TeleGeography notes that the 3.5GHz Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) band comprises spectrum in the 3550MHz-3700MHz range and has been earmarked for future 5G use.