In a draft Public Notice set for a full Commission vote at the next open meeting on April 17, 2018, the FCC indicates that it will propose to auction millimeter wave spectrum bands 28 and 24 GHz starting November 14, 2018 as Auction 101 and 102, respectively. If adopted, the Public Notice would propose application and bidding procedures for licensing the two bands in the Upper Microwave Flexible Use Service in separate consecutive auctions. The 28 GHz Band would include 3,074 licenses on a county basis as two 425 megahertz blocks, and the 24 GHz Band would include 2,912 licenses on a Partial Economic Area basis in a lower segment (two 100 megahertz blocks) and an upper segment (five 100 megahertz blocks). The Auctions 101 and 102 would be consecutive; the FCC would propose separate processes including separate application windows. Bidding credits for small businesses and rural service providers would be offered, but such credits would be capped ($25 million for small businesses and $10 million for rural service providers). The tentative comment deadlines for the draft Public Notice are May 9, 2018 for initial comments and May 23, 2018 for reply comments.
