The Federal Communications Commission has announced the schedule of the first ever wireless spectrum auction for 5G, and it is going to take place in November later this year. During a recently held meeting, the agency’s five commissioners all voted to approve the upcoming auction of 28 GigaHertz band on November 14th. A separate auction for the 24 GigaHertz airwaves will happen shortly thereafter. The FCC is aiming to sell about 6,000 licenses for the 28 and 24 GigaHertz bands.
Apart from revealing the dates for the 5G spectrum auction, the FCC also took the opportunity to begin the process of gathering feedback with regards to the application and bidding procedures to be followed by those who are looking to participate in the auction. As part of this process, the Commission will also collect comments in establishing the regulations during the auction.
There is a lot of excitement over the coming of the 5G era. The successor to today’s 4G LTE wireless technology promises even faster connection speeds and better and more reliable network quality than ever before. Moreover, with the introduction of commercial 5G offerings, it is said that its wide availability will help foster advanced forms of tech in other industries, including the automobile industry (smart cars), health care (telemedicine), and of course, the electronics business (due to the realization of the Internet of Things).
But it may take some time before this future can be brought to life. But that does not mean that regulating bodies like the FCC are not trying to usher in this new technological era. As a matter of fact, the agency has been pushing for the creation of new policies that should help make sure the deployments of 5G services adhere to acceptable standards in terms of quality and consistency. Also, the Commission has also tried to make requirements for 5G small cell radio roll outs a bit less strict, so as to facilitate faster deployments of what will become the foundation for a fully functioning countrywide 5G network in the United States.
America’s top mobile operators are also doing their part in preparing the inevitable arrival of 5G. Industry leaders Verizon Wireless and AT&T are have already promised to start introducing mobile 5G offerings commercially before the end of the year. Other national carriers like T-Mobile and Sprint believe that by early 2019, they should already be able to debut their respective 5G service.
