The FCC said that 57 bidders have qualified for its upcoming C-band spectrum auction (auction 107), which begins Dec. 8. It has some familiar names including AT&T, Cellco Partnership, Cox, T-Mobile, and United States Cellular.
Specifically, the FCC is auctioning flexible-use licenses in the 3.7–3.98 GHz band.
All 57 have been automatically registered for the auction. Of those, 22 applied for rural building credits, while 18 applied for small business credits.
Related: FCC Sets C-Band Auction for December
Being qualified means that their short-form applications have been deemed complete and in compliance. The FCC also said 17 applicants were not qualified to bid.
The FCC voted last February to free up 300 MHz of the C-Band for 5G, 280 of that to be auctioned and 20 MHz to be used as a guard band between wireless users and the incumbent satellite operators that will use the remaining 200 MHz to continue to deliver network programming to broadcaster and cable operator (and other) clients.
The C-Band Alliance has predicted the value of the midband 5G "sweet spot" C-Band spectrum at as much as $77 billion at auction.
