CBRS PAL Auction Ends

The Citizens Broadband Radio Service priority access license auction has ended. On a nationwide basis, licenses cost 21.6 cents per MHz-POP (MegaHertz per potential user). Prices in highly-populated counties were higher. 

Los Angeles county saw 53 cents per MHz-POP prices, while New York city saw prices of 62.7 cents per MHz-POP, for example. Prices in the District of Columbia reached $1.03 per MHz-POP. 

Those prices are important as the latest “comparable” prices that should influence prices in upcoming auctions for C-band spectrum, as spectrum is “real estate.” The rules of “location, location, location” apply: spectrum at 3.5 GHz is comparable to C-band spectrum at 4 GHz, in terms of propagation characteristics, bandwidth and amount of spectrum to be auctioned.