The FCC will soon announce winners of some prime 5G licenses in the 3.5 GHz band following the Citizens Broadband Radio Service auction, Inside Towers reported. In the meantime, analysts share their thoughts on how the auction proceeded.
“The consensus view is that Verizon is likely to be the biggest buyer,” Evercore telecom analyst James Ratcliffe told Politico. “It certainly has the biggest need for mid-band spectrum.” Verizon likely had motivation to buy 40 MHz of spectrum. LightShed Partners analyst Walter Piecyk estimated. Analysts expected cable companies likely made a play, too.
Some auction watchers noted high bidding interest in certain portions of the country. Dave Wright heads a coalition of interested members including Google, Intel and Federated Wireless. He expressed curiosity about “off-the-charts” bidding in Loving, Texas. “For some reason, the D.C. area has been notably more expensive than any other major metro,” Evercore’s Ratcliffe said.
Wright predicted these licenses will be commercially available as soon as the fourth quarter. That’s in contrast to C-band licenses. Though bidding begins this December, those licenses likely won’t be available for years, the experts predicted.
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