Wireless providers certainly are eager to snap up available spectrum. The FCC today said that its most recent auction generated approximately $44.8 billion in revenue.
The auction, for 65 megahertz of spectrum in the AWS-3 band, kicked off on Nov. 13 and went on for 341 rounds. It topped $34 billion in bids by late November and eventually concluded with almost $45 billion.
"Although winning bidders must still make payments and submit applications prior to the grant of licenses, by any measure it's safe to say that the auction was an overwhelming success," Roger C. Sherman, chief of the FCC's Wireless Telecommunications Bureau, wrote in a Thursday blog post. Winners will be revealed in the next few days, Reuters said.
That $45 billion, Sherman said, translates into $7 billion to fund the nation's first nationwide broadband public safety network; $300 million for public safety communications research; $115 million in grants for 911, E911, and next-gen 911 implementation; more than $20 billion for deficit reduction; and funding for relocating federal systems.
The bids are noteworthy because the spectrum being snapped up is not the most desirable. It's high on the electromagnetic spectrum, meaning it doesn't easily move through buildings and other solid objects, which could be a problem for mobile devices.
Meanwhile, "the winners will be required to share some of this spectrum with Federal government users, in particular geographic areas," FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn said in a November speech. "Sharing is critical to freeing up this spectrum for commercial use."
In a statement today, Clyburn said that analysts were predicting an auction total of about $18 billion. "I believe one of the key factors for this unanticipated level of activity is that the AWS-3 bands are near the AWS-1 bands and there are already base stations and other equipment available," she said.
Commissioner Ajit Pai, meanwhile, said the success was partially because "we made the rules as simple as possible [and] maintained open eligibility," a point of contention between Democrats and Republicans, as well as wireless providers large and small.
In the coming weeks, Sherman's team will accept applications from the winners, which they will scrutinize "to assure that granting each license is in the public interest and, where applicable, that each applicant has complied with the Commission's bidding credit rules."
Once licenses are granted, licensees can "coordinate with government users" on the shared access issue.
FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler said the auction "marked a new era in spectrum policy, where a collaborative and unprecedented effort resulted in new commercial access to federal spectrum bands."
According to CTIA, the wireless industry trade group, "this auction is yet another illustration of the significant economic impact that exclusive, licensed use spectrum provides taxpayers and the U.S. economy."
"As we've highlighted many times before, this is only the first step to unlock more mobile investment and benefits. A reinvigorated search to identify, clear and reallocate spectrum needs to begin today to meet the data demands of 2020, our connected lives and tomorrow's 5G networks," said CTIA CEO (and former FCC commissioner) Meredith Attwell Baker.
The success of the AWS-3 auction, meanwhile, bodes well for the incentive spectrum auction that is now scheduled for 2016. That auction will allow broadcasters sitting on unused spectrum to voluntarily sell it to wireless carriers. A portion of the proceeds go to the stations, and the rest to the government.
While spectrum might seem like a rather boring topic to the average consumer, its availability might eventually have an impact on how well your mobile devices work. At this point, the wireless carriers have enough spectrum to keep their networks running, but they argue that with more and more people picking up smartphones and other data-hungry devices like tablets, not to mention the rise of the Internet of Things, that bandwidth is running low.
Also today, meanwhile, the FCC moved to increase the definition of broadband from 4 to 25 Mbps.