On August 21, 2019, the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau and Office of Economics and Analysis (“WTB/OEA”) released a Public Notice announcing the number of generic 100-MHz license blocks in the Upper 37, 39 GHz, and 47 GHz bands in each Partial Economic Area (“PEA”) that will be available in Auction 103 (GN Docket No. 14-177, AU Docket No. 19-59).
In Auction 103, bidders will indicate their demands for a number of generic license blocks in specific categories and PEAs. In each PEA, bidders may indicate demands for generic blocks in either or both Category M/N and Category P. As you may recall, the Auction 103 Procedures Public Notice explained that the number of Upper 37 GHz and 39 GHz license blocks available for bidding in each PEA in Auction 103 depends partially on the Initial Commitments of 39 GHz incumbents to either accept modified licenses or to relinquish all of their existing spectrum usage rights. WTB/OEA now reports that all 39 GHz incumbents committed to relinquish their 39 GHz licenses during the Initial Commitment filing window, and therefore, the maximum possible number of generic blocks will be available in every PEA in both categories for Auction 103: Category M/N will offer 24 blocks in 37.6-40 GHz, which includes 10 blocks in the Upper 37 GHz band (Blocks M1-M10) and 14 blocks in the 39 GHz band (Blocks N1-N14) for 2400 MHz of contiguous spectrum. Category P will offer 10 blocks in 47.2-48.2 GHz (Blocks P1-P10) for 1000 MHz of contiguous spectrum. Additionally, none of the incumbent licensees filed a waiver request by the August 16, 2019 deadline, so the assignment phase bidding procedures will not be affect by any such waivers.
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