The FCC has adopted a Public Notice (Comment Public Notice) seeking comment on the procedures for its 3.45 GHz band auction, slated to begin in October 2021.
Auction 110, as this auction will be known, will auction a total 4,060 flexible use licenses across the contiguous United States. Auction 110 will offer 100 megahertz of spectrum, divided into ten 10-megahertz blocks, licensed by geographic Partial Economic Areas (PEA).
As proposed, Auction 110 includes a clock phase for bidding on generic blocks in each PEA, followed by an assignment phase for bidding on frequency-specific license assignments. The Auction 110 Comment Public Notice proposes bidding credit caps and specific upfront payments and minimum opening bid amounts.
The flexible-use licenses available through Auction 110 are subject to cooperative sharing requirements to protect federal incumbents. Accordingly, the Comment Public Notice seeks comment on an over $14.7 billion reserve price to meet a requirement that auction proceeds cover the expected sharing and allocation costs for federal incumbent users.
