After 63 Rounds, CBRS PAL Licenses Range from $1.03 per MHz-POP to Just 5 Cents per MHz-POP

After Round 63, Citizens Broadband Radio Service priority access licenses vary significantly by state. Prices in the District of Columbia are highest, at about $1.03 per MHz-POP, while in Alabama prices are only 23 cents per MHz-POP. 

As you would guess, it often is the most-populated states that have higher prices. But not always. Nevada is not hugely urban or heavily populated. Neither is Hawaii or Arizona. But all three have prices in the top-10 of U.S. states. 

state_abbreviation	population	supply	aggregate_demand	price_mhz_pop
DC	601,723	7	7	$1.029773
CA	37,253,956	406	418	$0.421844
IL	12,830,632	714	711	$0.377003
NV	2,700,551	119	110	$0.360040
AZ	6,392,017	105	109	$0.347375
HI	1,360,301	35	35	$0.326045
NY	19,378,102	434	315	$0.295139
TX	25,145,561	1,778	1,722	$0.277574
RI	1,052,567	35	36	$0.255759
AL	4,779,736	469	440	$0.237931

source: Sasha Javid

As spectrum is real estate, some of the same rules of value apply: “location, location, location.” That applies both to geography (population density matters) and frequency (lower frequencies cost more, very-high frequencies cost less, mid-band is in the middle.. 

The CBRS PAL auction of licenses at 3.5 GHz offers the latest market transaction data of importance for estimating 4-GHz C-band spectrum prices.