美國聯邦通信委員會于上周一稱，美國電話電報公司（AT&T）和T-Mobile是競標方，均為24GHz和28GHz頻段投入幾乎10億美元。此前已經擁有相當數量28GHz頻段資源的威瑞森（Verizon）投入了5.21億美元。

同時，United States Cellular斥資2.56億美元，總部設在波士頓的無線寬帶初創公司Starry以及數據通信服務商Windstream分別投入了4800萬美元和2700萬美元。有線電視公司和此前對無線業務顯示出興趣的大型科技公司并未參與本次拍賣。

過去10年，在600MHz、700MHz和1700 MHz頻段拍賣中，無線通信行業每次都會投入200億美元至450億美元的資金，而本次拍賣所得要少得多。這次拍賣的高頻頻段又被稱為毫米波頻段，可以傳輸大量數據，但傳輸距離不及較低頻段，而且容易被建筑物和樹木遮擋。

AT&T和威瑞森已經開始部署5G業務，其下載速度有可能達到4G LTE網絡的10到50倍，而它用的就是和本次拍賣一樣的毫米波頻段。威瑞森已經開始在明尼蘇達和芝加哥的部分區域銷售三星蓋樂世S10 5G手機，并計劃于今年晚些時候在另外幾十座城市上線此項業務。AT&T也已經在19座城市的部分區域通過移動熱點提供5G服務。AT&T還表示，其5G推廣方案還包括一些較低頻段，將在明年早些時候推廣到全國范圍內。

但由于本次毫米波頻段拍賣缺乏大資金參與，分析師開始懷疑AT&T和威瑞森的5G服務能否以這些頻段為主力。T-Mobile表示，將于今年晚些時候在600MHz頻段啟動5G業務。Sprint則剛剛在四座城市通過2.5GHz頻段推出5G服務。

上周一，New Street Research的分析師喬納森·卓別林在分析報告中寫道，本次拍賣結果似乎表明毫米波頻段對5G業務來說并不是那么關鍵。他指出：“本次拍賣中的價格應該讓投資者懷疑威瑞森和AT&T是否有信心把毫米波頻段作為5G主要頻段。這兩家公司也許會表示他們用難以置信的價格拿下了很棒的5G頻段，但如果真是這樣，其他三家參與競標的通信服務公司為什么不加大力度，以便拿到更多頻段呢？而且其他公司為什么不投標呢？”

韓國、日本和德國等其他國家都用3-4GHz的中波頻段來支持5G業務。該頻段很平衡，既滿足了對大容量的需求，又有較長的信號傳輸距離。但在美國，大多數中波頻段已經分配給了其他用戶，比如軍隊和通信衛星。聯邦通信委員會正計劃在特朗普政府支持下為5G業務共享或重新劃分該頻段。

瑞銀的分析師約翰·霍都里克認為，這些電信公司可能一直在攢錢，目的是在今后競標聯邦通信委員會騰出來的中波頻段。他寫道，中波頻段“可能成為5G的主力。我們認為所有電信公司都有意拿下新的中波頻段，而本次拍賣的結果就是它們為新的支出預留了彈藥”。（財富中文網）

譯者：Charlie

審校：夏林

AT&T and T-Mobile were the top bidders, with each spending almost $1 billion for rights in the 24 GHz and 28 GHz bands, the Federal Communications Commission said on last Monday. Verizon, which already owned a considerable amount of airwaves in the 28 GHz band before the auction, spent $521 million.

Meanwhile, United States Cellular spent $256 million, Boston-based wireless broadband startup Starry spent $48 million, and data carrier Windstream spent $27 million. The auction didn’t draw any bids from cable companies and big tech players that have previously shown an interest in wireless.

The total was far less than the $20 billion to $45 billion that the wireless industry spent each at auctions over the past decade covering airwaves in the 600 MHz, 700 MHz, and 1700 MHz bands. Sometimes referred to as the millimeter wave bands, the high frequency airwaves sold at the latest auction can carry a tremendous amount of data, but they don’t travel nearly as far as lower frequency bands and can be blocked easily by buildings and trees.

AT&T and Verizon have already begun deploying 5G service, which can reach download speeds 10 to 50-times faster than current 4G LTE networks, using millimeter wave frequencies like those just auctioned. Verizon has started selling the Samsung Galaxy S10 5G phone for use in parts of Minnesota and Chicago, with dozens more cities planned to come online later this year. AT&T has been offering 5G service via a mobile hotspot in parts of 19 cities and says its rollout plan, which will also include some lower frequency band spectrum, will be nationwide by early next year.

But the lack of big money going after the millimeter wave bands at the latest auctions had analysts wondering if AT&T and Verizon will be able to rely mainly on such bands for 5G service. T-Mobile says it would start 5G service with 600 MHz spectrum later this year and Sprint just started using the 2.5 GHz band to offer 5G in four cities.

The results seem to indicate that millimeter wave spectrum won’t be so crucial for 5G service, New Street Research analyst Jonathan Chaplin wrote in a report on the results on last Monday. “The prices fetched in this auction should cause investors to question Verizon and AT&T’s confidence in using mmWave as their primary band for mobile 5G,” he wrote. “Verizon and AT&T might claim that they just got their hands on great 5G spectrum at an incredible price, but if that were true, why didn’t the three participating carriers bid harder to get more? And why didn’t others bid?”

Other countries like South Korea, Japan, and Germany are relying on mid-wave spectrum bands in the 3 GHz to 4 GHz range for 5G service. Such airwaves balance the need for high capacity with the longer distance the signals can travel. But in the United States, most of the mid-band has been assigned to other users, like the military and communications satellites. The FCC is working on plans to share or re-assign some of the airwaves for 5G use, with support from the Trump administration.

So the carriers may have been saving money to bid on future mid-band spectrum freed up by the FCC, analyst John Hodulik at UBS noted. Mid-band spectrum “will likely serve as the workhorse of 5G,” he wrote. “We believe all carriers are interested in gaining new mid-band airwaves and auction results preserve dry powder for additional spending.”