FCC Starts First 5G Mid-Band Spectrum Auction

The Federal Communications Commission on July 23 is beginning its first auction of licenses for prime, mid-band spectrum suitable for 5G. The auction will offer county-based Priority Access Licenses (PALs) in the 3550-3650 MHz band, which will encourage the rapid deployment of next-generation wireless networks in the band. This is a critical step in freeing up spectrum for the commercial marketplace—a core part of the FCC’s 5G FAST Plan. 

This auction, designated as Auction 105, will offer seven PALs in each county-based license area, for a total of 22,631 PALs nationwide—the largest number of flexible-use spectrum licenses ever made available for bidding in a single auction. Each PAL will consist of a 10-megahertz unpaired channel in the 3.55-3.65 GHz band. The FCC adopted procedures for Auction 105 in a public notice adopted earlier in 2020.

The FCC rules for the 3.5 GHz spectrum band established a dynamic, three-tiered, hierarchical framework to coordinate shared federal and non-federal uses. Under this framework, incumbent users have the highest priority, followed by PALs, and then General Authorized Access users. FCC Commissioner Michael O’Rielly led the FCC’s work to ensure that the rules for PALs would encourage investment and innovation in the 3.5 GHz band. General Authorized Access users can already access the band and the auction represents the final step to commercializing the band.