• June 17, 2020

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The priority access license (PAL) auction 105 for Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) spectrum begins July 23 and the FCC has already received 348 applications for the 70MHz up for bid. More than 22,000 licenses are available with a wide array of interested buyers, including lager carriers and small service providers.

Well-known names such as AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon are among the many applicants on the FCC’s list, alongside other notable bidders like Comcast, Cox Communications, Frontier, and U.S. Cellular.

Large businesses are also lining up for a piece of the spectrum, a relative rarity for a PAL auction. Oil and gas companies and utilities like Occidental Petroleum, Chevron, and Southern California Edison are on list as well as universities, including Texas A&M and Duke. Deere & Company, manufacturer of the popular John Deere lawn care equipment, is another unique contender among the large business applicants.

The list also includes several mid-sized bidders competing for a piece of the 3.55-3.65 GHz band. Service providers like Cable One, Cincinnati Bell, Midcontinent Communications, and Windstream are hoping to secure licenses along with Frontier and U.S. Cellular.

However, it’s smaller service providers who account for most of the FCC’s applicants, including Bluegrass Wireless, Broadwave, and Pine Cellular.

Licenses include 10-year terms, are limited to four per county license area, and winners are expected to use them or risk having them shared with others. If a license is inactive and goes dormant, it will return to General Authorized Access (GAA) for use by others. Claude Aiken, CEO of the Wireless Internet Service Providers Association (WISPA), said, “I think one of the great things about the CBRS model is that it’s effectively a use-it or share-it model.” According to Aiken, “From day one, there’s an opportunity to use that spectrum efficiently. Historically, if the license holder doesn’t use it, then that resource goes entirely unused.”

The FCC released two lists of the 348 potential auction participants; a list of completed applications and a list of incomplete applications. At the time of the release, only 106 were considered complete. However, those with incomplete applications still have time to correct their submissions prior to the auction this July.

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Sources:

fiercewireless.com/private-wireless/at-t-verizon-t-mobile-cox-charter-among-cbrs-bidders

fiercewireless.com/operators/a-variety-operators-are-likely-to-bid-cbrs-auction

lightreading.com/5g/verizon-atandt-charter-cox-dish-among-cbrs-auction-bidders/d/d-id/761573