The White House and the Department of Defense have announced plans to make 100 megahertz of mid-band spectrum in the 3.45-3.55 GHz band available for commercial use. These frequencies are adjacent to the 3.5 GHz CBRS band that is currently being auctioned. Together with CBRS and the 3.7-3.98 GHz C-Band spectrum, scheduled to be auctioned in December of this year, the 3.45 GHz band will be part of a total of 530 megahertz of mid-band spectrum being made available for 5G use.

The Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”) will adopt service rules for the 3.45 GHz band and then conduct an auction of the frequencies. The White House predicts an auction could be held as early as December 2021. In a statement released yesterday, FCC Chairman Pai stated: “[t]he FCC looks forward to moving quickly to adopt service rules for the 3.45 GHz band and then hold an auction to bring this prime mid-band spectrum to market.”[1]

We will continue to monitor FCC releases and proceedings and provide updates on the latest developments on the band. As always, if you have any questions, please contact Dee Herman at [email protected], Greg Whiteaker
at [email protected] or Clare Andonov at [email protected].