The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has concluded the bidding phase of Auction 110, an auction of licenses in the 3.45 to 3.55 GHz band. In the “clock” phase, bidders won 4,041 of the 4,060 available generic blocks, and gross proceeds reached over $21.8 billion, which places Auction 110 among the highest grossing auctions in FCC history.  

The gross proceeds during the clock phase of the auction surpassed the congressionally mandated reserve price in which 110 percent of the expected sharing and relocation costs for federal users currently operating in the band must be covered by auction proceeds.

Auction 110 makes available 100 MHz of mid-band spectrum for commercial use across the contiguous United States.  The spectrum licenses are divided into ten, 10-MHz blocks licensed by geographic areas known as partial economic areas.  License winners will operate within a cooperative sharing framework that will enable commercial use by an array of service providers, while also ensuring coexistence with federal incumbents where and when they require continued access to the band.  

Winning bidders will now have the opportunity to bid for frequency-specific licenses in the “assignment” phase of Auction 110.  The FCC will release a public notice announcing further details of the assignment phase, including the date and time when bidding will begin.