The FCC’s auction of 2.5 GHz Educational Broadband Service (EBS) spectrum (Auction 108) has come to a close, bringing in $428 million in total bids for 7,872 total licenses won. T-Mobile emerged as the dominant winning bidder with a haul of 7,156 licenses—almost 91% of all licenses won—costing $304.3 million. Other big winners included North American Catholic Educational Programming, Evergy Kansas Central, and Cellular South, while nationwide providers (besides T-Mobile) won few to no licenses. AT&T and Dish won nothing while Verizon won 12 licenses in areas scattered throughout the country. 145 licenses went unsold. Of the 82 total qualified bidders, 63 walked away with licenses. Though the auction’s $428 million proceeds are a pittance as compared to the $81+ billion brought in through last year’s Auction 107 for C-band spectrum, the Auction 108 spectrum inventory was largely encumbered and not widely available throughout the country.
