C-Band Auction 107 and Wireless Industry Implications

The FCC C-band auction generated just under $81B making it the largest spectrum auction in history. The amount of spend by the traditional players (AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile) as well as the potential new wireless entrants (Dish, Charter, Comcast and Cox) is a leading indicator to the importance of wireless networks. Although the importance of small cells continues to play out for network capacity augmentation, the auction winners are going to need to focus on the macro network deployments in order to expand new and or existing wireless networks. This is achieved via the towers owned and operated by industry incumbents such as Crown, American Tower and SBA Communications.

The resurgence of focus on macro towers comes after several years of efforts to expand network services via existing towers and small cell networks. Even the CBRS Priority Access License (PAL) auction exceeded all expectations raising $4.5B thus further highlighting the need for new spectrum to be deployed by the wireless incumbent and the non-traditional players. Private and public networks will benefit from all of this newly available spectrum as well as the supporting industries such as the system integrators and innovative hardware and software developers. Network expansions will come via the traditional tower space as well as the inbuilding venues supporting both private and public networks.

Jamie Kimble, Vice President of Enterprise Solutions, is an experienced telecommunications leader with over 30 years of experience in the industry specializing in Wireless System Design. He is skilled in 4G, 5G, Wi-Fi, CBRS, Operations Management, and System Deployment. Jamie is a strong information technology professional with a bachelor’s degree focused in Electrical, Engineering and Communications Engineering from the University of Cincinnati.