The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has launched the next increment of its 5G auction program that will allow bidders to compete for their preferred allocations in the C-band spectrum.
FCC said Tuesday the bidding program has raised $80.9 billion and will now move forward to the “assignment phase” of Auction 107 which previously saw bidders compete for 5,684 spectrum blocks during the program’s “clock phase”. Bidders that were able to secure at least one block of C-band spectrum allocations are eligible to bid for frequency-specific licenses during the assignment phase.
Jessica Rosenworcel, acting chairwoman of FCC, said the agency’s work on the auction is meant to help put forward and accelerate commercialization of the mid-band spectrum. FCC plans to conduct a six-round “mock auction” as part of Auction 107’s next phase on Feb. 4 ahead of official bidding activities on Feb. 8.