We hear a lot about ‘this’ MHz frequency or ‘that’ GHz frequency band, the prospect of upcoming
FCC auctions of the frequency spectrum, and the need (not only for new sites but) for greater amounts
of bandwidth to satisfy the demand for commercial mobile services in the US and fuel wireless carrier
growth. This article summarizes what frequency spectrum has already sold by lottery and auction, to
date, and characterizes frequency spectrum that is scheduled and anticipated to be scheduled for
auctions in the next few years. For instance, did you know that auction plans set for 2018-19 promise to
make available seven times more bandwidth than has been sold by the FCC for commercial mobile
services since the original cellular market license lottery in the early 80s. That’s 5 GHz of new bandwidth
to be auctioned in the next 14 months compared to 715.5 MHz transferred in the past 35 years. This
expansion in wireless system capacity roughly matches the projected increase in cell sites over the next
five years compared with the number of cell sites developed-to-date since 1983. You’ll want to keep this
frequency spectrum overview close at hand for easy reference.
The FCC’s 5G FAST Plan for Spectrum
The FCC’s plan to Facilitate America’s Superiority in 5G Technology (5G FAST) is made up of three
initiatives: Increase spectrum availability, improve infrastructure policy, and modernize outdated
regulations. The focus of this article is: spectrum. In the past 24 years, the FCC has conducted
approximately 100 spectrum auctions for an array of over-the-air communications services. Auctions
that sold the commercial mobile services (a/k/a wireless) sector spectrum capacity have raised over
$100 billion dollars in federal revenue. Currently, the top six spectrum holders are Sprint, AT&T,
Verizon Wireless, T-Mobile, DISH, and US Cellular. The largest of the wireless auctions were for
licenses in these frequency bands: ($41B) AWS-3 Band auction completed in 2015 ($36B) Broadband
PCS Band/A-B-C-D-E-F blocks (combined) completed 1995/2014 ($13.7B) AWS-1 Band completed in
2006/2008 ($7B) 600 MHz Band completed in 2017
Between auctions and the original cellular service lotteries, the following amounts of bandwidth
(715.5 MHz total) have been doled out to the top spectrum holders on a market-by-market basis
(determined by the market category and winning bidder):
70 MHz in the 600 MHz Band
70 MHz in the 700 MHz Band
50 MHz in the 800 MHz Cellular Service Band
14 MHz in the SMR Band
130 MHz in the Broadband PCS Band
90 MHz in the AWS-1 Band
65 MHz in the AWS-3 Band
40 MHz in the AWS-4 Band
10 MHz in the H-Block Band
20 MHz in the WCS Band
67.5 MHz in the BRS Band
89 MHz in the EBS Band
The FCC’s 5GFAST Plan involves auctions for 28 GHz and 24 GHz bandwidth in 2018, 37 GHz,
39 GHz, and 47 GHz bandwidth in 2019, and further capacity in the 26 GHz and 42 GHz bands
in the future. The auction plans already set for 2018-19 auctions will make available 5 GHz of
total bandwidth (7 times the 715.5 MHz previously auctioned). This increase in wireless system
capacity roughly matches the projected increase in cell sites over the next five years compared
with the number developed since 1983 to now.
The FCC is further endeavoring to develop up-to-another 844 MHz in the 2.5 GHz, 3.5 GHz, and
3.7-4.2 GHz bands, improve bands below 1 GHz (600 MHz, 800 MHz, & 900 MHz) for 5G use,
and create new opportunities for Wi-Fi unlicensed the 6 GHz band and above 95 GHz. The key to
use of frequencies above 1 GHz is that the characteristics of the waves lend themselves to 5G
applications that utilize small cells to cover smaller areas than the bands under 1 GHz. Stay tuned
for the frequency bands mentioned above to come into play.
October 15, 2018, by John Rowe- Regulatory Chairman, Colorado Wireless Association
