The FCC this week launched phase two of its microwave-band spectrum auction (103).
The clock phase on the FCC's latest "spectrum frontiers" auction closed Jan. 30 with over $7.5 billion bid for a whopping 3,400 MHz of millimeter-wave spectrum (in the upper 37-gigahertz, 39-GHz and 47-GHz bands), the most spectrum the FCC has ever offered in an auction of any type. The spectrum — which was offered as 14,144 licenses — can be used for both fixed and mobile broadband and was auctioned in 100-megahertz blocks in partial economic areas (PEAs).
Related: FCC Tries Again to Boost 5G Spectrum Bidders
Part two, the assignment phase auction, which began Feb. 18, is among any of the license winners who want specific frequencies.
"The top-20 PEAs will be assigned first—one PEA per assignment round—in order from PEA001 to PEA020," the FCC said. "Once the top-20 PEAs have been assigned, the remaining PEAs will be assigned."
The FCC does not post a running tally of bids in the assignment phase, as it does for the clock phase, but will put out an announcement when the bidding has concluded.
The auction is one of a series of high and mid-band spectrum auctions the FCC is conducting to free up more bandwidth for 5G.
