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104 participants set to duke it out for 600-MHz spectrum once it is relinquished by TV broadcasters.
The U.S. this week kicked off the first phase of its incentive auction, which will see TV broadcasters hand over their 600-MHz spectrum.
"If broadband Internet service is an engine for economic growth, then mobile broadband has been its booster rocket, creating a platform for innovation, competition and new markets," said Federal Communications Commission (FCC) chairman Tom Wheeler, in a statement on Tuesday.
The incentive auction is actually two auctions: the reverse auction, in which broadcasters will sell their 600-MHz spectrum back to the FCC, and the forward auction, which will see telcos bid for the newly-returned frequencies.
The last major spectrum auction to take place in the U.S. was the AWS-3 auction, in which 65 MHz of 1700-MHz and 2.1-GHz frequencies were put on the block. It drew to a close in January 2015, and raised almost US$45 billion.
"The incentive auction promises to free up more capacity to meet Americans’ skyrocketing demand for wireless data while preserving the valuable service that broadcast TV stations provide to their communities," Wheeler said.
Earlier in March, the FCC revealed that 104 companies have applied to take part in the forward auction, consisting of 69 complete applications and 35 incomplete applications, which must be resubmitted by 6 April.
The U.S.’s top three mobile operators AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile are taking part. As expected, fourth-placed Sprint, which opted out of the auction in September 2015, is not on the list.
A number of rural players have signed up, as has America Movil subsidiary Puerto Rico Telephone Company, which operates as Clara Puerto Rico.
The FCC’s bidder list also includes a number of players from outside the mobile space.
According to a Wall Street Journal report, cable giant Comcast and satellite TV provider Dish Network are both participating in the auction via affiliates.
Liberty Global also reportedly applied, but has since changed its mind about actually bidding for spectrum.
