FCC allows 70 companies -- including AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile and Dish -- to bid in AWS-3 auction

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A total of 70 companies have qualified to bid in the Federal Communications Commission's upcoming AWS-3 spectrum auction, which starts Nov. 13 and will be the country's largest spectrum auction since 2008.

Verizon Wireless, AT&T Mobility and T-Mobile US, as well as Dish Network, are qualified to bid, along with dozens of smaller carriers, investment firms and private entities. Sprint said in September that it would sit out the AWS-3 auction. The FCC's recent decision to push the start of the incentive auction of 600 MHz broadcast TV spectrum from mid-2015 to early 2016 increases the importance of the AWS-3 auction, since carriers will now need to wait even longer to get access to any broadcast TV spectrum that may be auctioned. Further, a number of carriers already use AWS spectrum for their LTE deployments, and the AWS-3 spectrum up for auction is expected to integrate quickly into the device and network ecosystem. However, the AWS-3 spectrum is mid-band spectrum and not low-band spectrum, and therefore won't have as good propagation characteristics as the low-band 600 MHz spectrum.


FCC allows 70 companies -- including AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile and Dish -- to bid in AWS-3 auction Auction of Advanced Wireless Services Licenses; 70 Bidders Qualified to Participate in Auction 97 (FCC docs)