UPDATE After three bidding rounds, gross proceeds topped just over $115 million as of round 3 in the FCC’s auction of 2.5 GHz licenses on Monday. A total of 82 applicants qualified to bid in Auction 108 for about 8,000 flexible use overlay licenses in the band (2496–2690 MHz). Total gross bids were just over $108 million as of round 2.
Gross proceeds were more than $103 million on Friday, the first day of bidding with a single auction round that spanned six hours. BitPath CEO Sasha Javid described the demand for that round as “tepid” in his analysis. The FCC provides a mapping tool of auction 108 inventory by county and channel block here.
The FCC is selling county-sized overlay licenses in the 2.5 GHz band in this auction. In each county, up to three categories of licenses will be made available. Category C1 licenses total 49.5 MHz in size, currently consisting of nine 5.5 MHz channels. Category C2 licenses total 50.5 MHz in size, currently consisting of twenty channels between 0.33 MHz, 5 MHz and 6 MHz in size. Category C3 licenses total 17.5 MHz in size, consisting of three 0.33 MHz-channels and three 5 MHz-channels. The 5 MHz-channels are not contiguous from the 0.33 MHz-channels in these Category C3 licenses.
“The FCC is selling these county-sized overlay licenses in each category unless the current incumbents cover 100 percent of the area of the county,” says Javid in his auction analysis. The FCC considers these licenses as “fully-encumbered” and not for sale.
A large amount of spectrum in the band, particularly in urban areas, is already in use by T-Mobile and some is licensed to tribal entities and others, according to various analysts. Experts predict T-Mobile will be the big winner in this auction to fill-in metro coverage gaps.
Bidding resumes this morning at 10 a.m. Eastern.
By Leslie Stimson, Inside Towers Washington Bureau Chief
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