Bidding at the FCC’s 28 GHz auction has heated up a little since returning from the Thanksgiving holiday, though totals still lag compared to amounts brought in during previous spectrum license auctions.
Provisionally winning bids totaled $444.54 million as of Friday afternoon, following 33 rounds. One more round is scheduled for Friday evening.
Auction 101 will continue Monday, Dec. 3 with four more rounds.
Forty qualified bidders are participating, with 3,072 county-based licenses up for grabs in two 425-megahertz blocks of spectrum at 27.5-27.925 GHz and 27.925-28.350 GHz. So far, 2,703 have received bids. Two Licenses in Honolulu, Hawaii have garnered the most interest and top dollar, with provisionally winning bids of just over $10 million for each.
Two licenses covering Kern, Calif., also are of note, one bringing in $8.74 million during round 33 and the other reaching $8.59 million during round 31.
The auction started Nov. 14 and raised $36.4 million in the first round, but bidding cooled and individual rounds didn’t bring in more than about $11 million over the first five days. Following the Thanksgiving break, bidding heated up a bit beginning Tuesday with amounts ranging between $12 million and $20 million per round.
Still, bidding at the 28 GHz auction is mild compared to previous spectrum auctions, which have garnered totals in the billions. More activity is expected in the upcoming 24 GHz auction.
Filed Under: Wireless Week
