The FCC will take up rules for the...
The FCC will take up rules for the AWS-3 auction and a first report and order on rules for the unlicensed use of the 5.1 GHz band at its March 31 open meeting, the agency confirmed Monday. Industry officials have…
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said the AWS-3 auction is eagerly awaited, though it is widely expected to raise less money than the TV incentive auction, the other big auction on the FCC’s plate. The 5.1 GHz rules are aimed at opening an additional 100 MHz of spectrum for unlicensed use in the Unlicensed-National Information Infrastructure-1 (U-NII-1) band (CD March 3 p1), following rules expected to be harmonized with the 5.7 GHz U-NII-3 band. The AWS-3 notice proposes service rules for the spectrum, a senior FCC official said Monday. A notice on auction procedures is to follow as well as a notice on the process for clearing the band, much of which is now in use by federal agencies. The notice doesn’t address the lower part of the former J-block (2020-2025 MHz), the official said. What is in the notice is the 1695-1710 MHz band, to be offered on an unpaired basis broken into a 5 MHz and 10 MHz block, licensed in Economic Area chunks. Also to be offered in the auction are 1755-1780 and 2155-2180 MHz. They will be offered in three paired blocks: A 5 x 5 MHz paired block at 1755-1760 and 2155-2160, sold as smaller Cellular Market Area licenses, with the remainder offered in two 10 x 10 EA-sized paired blocks, the official said.