AWS-3 Reauction to Start June 2, FCC Says
Bidding in the long-awaited reauction of AWS-3 spectrum will start June 2, the FCC Office of Economics and Analytics and Wireless Bureau announced Thursday. That means it would likely occur about a year ahead of the much bigger auction for the upper C band. The AWS-3 auction will be the FCC’s first for full-power licensed use since 2022. The first auction of AWS-3 spectrum was in 2014.
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Chairman Brendan Carr highlighted the release of the auction notice during a press conference after the commission meeting. “We’re full steam ahead on several auctions,” including one of the AWS-3 licenses “that had been kicking around in FCC inventory for a while,” he said. “It’s great to have an auction in 2026. People really like auctions.”
Part of the proceeds will fund the FCC’s Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program. The FY 2025 National Defense Authorization Act, which authorized the auction, allows 18 months for it to be held.
Auction 113 will use an ascending clock auction format “with a supply of one in each category of frequency-specific channel blocks, referred to as the ‘clock-1’ auction format,” the notice said. Among the deadlines established, the short-form application window will open no later than Jan. 12, and applications will be due Feb. 11. Upfront payments are due April 8. A bidding tutorial will be available no later than May 1, with a mock auction May 29, the notice said.
Of the 200 licenses to be offered, the 48 that are located in the A1 block (1695-1700 MHz), B1 block (1700-1710 MHz), H block (1760-1765/2160-2165 MHz), I block (1765-1770/2165-2170 MHz) and J block (1770-1780/2170-2180 MHz) are based on economic areas. The 152 located in the G block (1755-1760/2155-2160 MHz) are based on cellular market areas. The order included a list of the licenses up for sale.
The commission isn’t imposing a pre-auction bright-line limit on acquisitions of AWS-3 licenses but will “perform case-by-case review of proposed secondary market transactions,” the notice said. The FCC also said it decided to classify only AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon as “nationwide providers” for purposes of implementing the competitive bidding rules in the auction. Verizon had asked that EchoStar or any bidders “with whom EchoStar has agreements” be included on that list, but the notice denied that request.
In addition, the FCC noted that the spectrum is shared, in part, with federal incumbents. “We encourage each potential applicant to carefully review these coordination requirements and the policies and procedures adopted by the Commission to implement them, and to consider the impact of those requirements and policies on the potential applicant’s business plans.”
Scott Bergmann, CTIA's senior vice president for regulatory affairs, thanked the FCC for moving “swiftly” to schedule the auction. Combined with the spectrum pipeline in the reconciliation package, it will “bring critical spectrum to market that will restore our wireless leadership, put us at the forefront of next-generation technologies including AI, and open more economic opportunities for Americans,” Bergmann said in an email.