Verizon spent the most money in the CBRS spectrum auction, according to a summary of CBRS auction winners released from the FCC today. The company will pay $1.9 billion for 557 licenses in 157 counties.
Of all major carriers, Verizon was most in need of mid-band spectrum and the amount that the company will spend is equal to about 42% of the total $4.5 billion raised in the auction.
While some companies bid under unfamiliar names, Federated Wireless, provider of spectrum access system technology that will underlie CBRS networks, provided us with the more familiar names of the winning bidders.
The second biggest of the CBRS auction winners, by money spent, was Wetterhorn Wireless which, according to Federated, is Dish. Dish will spend $912 .9 million and was also the biggest winner measured by number of licenses – winning a total of 5,492 licenses in 3,128 counties.
Cable companies also were big spenders in the auction. Charter, bidding as Spectrum Wireless Holdings, was third, spending $464 million, followed by XF Wireless Investment/Comcast at $459 million and Cox Communications at $213 million.
The top 5 CBRS auction winners combined will spend about $3.9 billion, representing nearly 87% of total auction proceeds. There were a total of 228 winners in the auction, including many small rural providers.
CBRS Auction Winners by Number of Licenses
Following Dish on the list of top CBRS auction winners by number of licenses was SAL Spectrum/ATN International, which may be better known as Atlantic Tele-Network and Commnet. In third place was AMG Technology Investment Group/Nextlink, a fixed wireless provider that was a big winner in the Connect America Fund CAF II auction. Windstream, which also has big fixed wireless plans, was fourth, followed by XF Wireless Investment/Comcast.
Other CBRS Auction Winners
Other wireless companies that won spectrum in the CBRS auction include U.S. Cellular, which will spend $5.6 million for eight licenses in six counties, and U.S. Cellular, which will spend $13.5 million for 243 licenses in 80 counties.
Another cable company winner was Midco, which will spend $8.8 million for 269 licenses in 75 counties.
Another publicly-held telco winner is Consolidated, which will spend $3.6 million for 67 licenses in 24 counties. According to the FCC, Frontier bid in the auction but did not win any licenses.
Another fixed wireless provider that won a considerable number of licenses was WA.T.C.H. TV Company, which will spend$12.9 million for 517 licenses in 193 counties.
Additional information about CBRS auction winners can be found in this public notice and at this link.
Updated with additional information about winners that were not on either of the top winner lists.
