T-Mobile Asks FCC to Act on 2.5 GHz Auction

T-Mobile urged the FCC to set a date for the 2.5 GHz auction to start and begin and finalize a proceeding on auction procedures, in a filing posted Thursday in docket 18-120. The band “is critical to help provide 5G services to Americans,” the carrier said: “Yet, it has been over two years since the Commission adopted new rules governing the 2.5 GHz band and nearly eight months since the Commission proposed procedures to auction the spectrum.” The FCC should reject calls by AT&T for a single-round, sealed-bid auction with pay-as-bid pricing, T-Mobile said: That approach “would favor speculators and not service providers -- service providers that compete with AT&T.” T-Mobile favors a more traditional simultaneous multiple round (SMR) auction. The 2.5 GHz auction will offer more than 8,300 “unique licenses,” which “will be ‘overlaid’ on existing spectrum licenses, the characteristics of many of them -- even in the same geographic area -- may vary significantly,” the carrier said. “An SMR auction is essential in these circumstances because it allows for price discovery, which enables participants to effectively determine the value of a license based on the specific spectrum made available and the geographic area covered.” The auction is expected to start next year, after the conclusion of the 3.45 GHz auction, which starts next month (see 2106070054). AT&T didn't comment.