3.45 GHz May Stall for Years if Auction Fails: New Street
If the 3.45 GHz auction fails, the band likely won’t be deployed for several years, “making the failure a boon for the comparatively spectrum rich and a problem for those currently spectrum deprived,” New Street’s Blair Levin told investors over…
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the weekend. The auction closed at $9.8 billion Monday, after speculation last week that the auction was in trouble (see 2110140059). The first reaction would likely be “everyone will claim the auction proves the wisdom of what they previously argued,” Levin said. Congress, the FCC and NTIA will look at “a series of issues the failure raises, with many of those issues likely to be raised for the next band as well,” he said. Failure would likely have no effect on the next 5G auction of the 2.5 GHz band, he said: “The situation there is different, with T-Mobile and smaller carriers who want it having the capacity to meet the reserve. Further, the Democrats will not want another delay of spectrum allocation to 5G uses on their watch.”