2.5GHz spectrum auction ends with just $428M in bids

The FCC's latest auction of midband spectrum ended after more than 70 rounds of bidding. However, the event generated winning bids of $428 million, an amount far below most analysts' expectations.

T-Mobile is expected to walk away with the bulk of the licenses up for grabs in the auction. However, the FCC has not yet identified the winning bidders. The agency is expected to do so sometime early next month.

The auction, dubbed Auction 108 by the FCC, started in late July. The event released roughly 8,000 spectrum licenses all around the country in the 2.5GHz band. Most of the licenses are scattered haphazardly in primarily rural areas.

Figure 1: (Source: Philipp Dimitri / Westend61 GmbH / Alamy Stock Photo)

AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile and Dish Network were all registered to bid in the auction. So were some smaller telecom operators like Carolina West Wireless, Cellular South Wireless, Copper Valley Wireless, Granite Wireless, Nex-Tech Wireless, Nsight and Union Telephone Company.

The FCC's Auction 108 of 2.5GHz spectrum is the agency's smallest midband spectrum auction for 5G. The agency's CBRS auction of 3.5GHz licenses raised $4.6 billion in bids from a range of bidders in 2020. More recently, the FCC's Andromeda auction of 3.45GHz licenses ended earlier this year with a total of around $22 billion in winning bids. And of course, the FCC's record-breaking C-band auction ended in 2020 with a whopping $81 billion in winning bids.

Most analysts expected Auction 108 to generate around $3 billion in total bids.

There are two main reasons that T-Mobile is widely expected to win most of Auction 108's licenses. First, T-Mobile is the only major operator building a 5G network in 2.5GHz licenses. All other operators – from Dish to Verizon – invest in other spectrum bands.

Second, Verizon, AT&T and Dish have already spent heavily in other auctions, which likely dampened their interest in Auction 108.

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— Mike Dano, Editorial Director, 5G & Mobile Strategies, Light Reading | @mikeddano