Stage one of the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC’s) 600MHz Broadcast Television Spectrum Incentive Auction (‘Auction 1002’) ended abruptly on Tuesday 30 August, with the watchdog racking up USD23.108 billion worth of bids after 27 rounds of bidding. As a result, the FCC must now reduce the amount of 600MHz spectrum it will free up for wireless purposes and resume its ‘Reverse Auction’ with the country’s TV broadcasters, as it seeks to bring down the cost of the spectrum and spark the bidding process back to life.
TeleGeography notes that stage one of the Reverse Auction saw the ‘clearing cost’ for 126MHz of spectrum established at USD86.423 billion, significantly exceeding analyst expectations. According to the FCC’s Auction Dashboard, stage two of the Reverse Auction will commence on Tuesday 13 September.