The FCC began auctioning 3.7 - 3.98 GHz to 5G carriers earlier this month. The combined bids are already at $70 billion. Yes, that's billion with a "b"... over $200 per man, woman, and child in the U.S. This is serious money, even for companies as large as AT&T and Verizon. Bidding resumes on January 4 and the value of the spectrum is expected to rise further. An auction for 3.45 - 3.55 GHz will follow. Absent a miracle, I don't see how hams can hold onto more than a sliver of spectrum between 2.45 and 24.25 GHz.
interesting..... maybe we as a group could pool our resources, find some mega-donors, and buy our own slice of the pie. That's probably the only way to keep it from getting all gobbled up, especially considering that governments typically don't give a hoot about radio.... but love all that money.
Pandering to the telecom cartels, pimping out every MHz of saleable spectrum to the criminal enterprises/legalized racketeering otherwise known as the three wireless monarchs like a fur coat sporting pimp and his ladies on the boulevard- I am so glad this paper tiger of an agency has the people's best interest at heart! Way to go!
I've always been at a loss as how the FCC (or anyone) can auction off something that they never owned in the first place. Auctioning off a frequency is like auctioning off the number PI.
As a former employee for VZW and doing contract work for both with my company is not a lot of money for them. They both paid more for the 700 Mhz spectrum a decade ago for the release of 4G. They will make that back in a year, look at your cell phone bill. You will pay a lot more than $200/year. As for anything UHF and Microwave is a commodity, and for sale to the highest bidder. No worries about HF, no one wants it, and only useful for voice propaganda by governments. Not enough bandwidth, too inefficient, and way too noisy to be useful for anything meaningful. What is expensive is the equipment and if you know who makes it would be buying stock in Nokia and Erricson. The range of 5G is only a few blocks or confined to a building. FWIW in cellular communication 600 and 700 Mhz is the sweet spot for range and bandwidth.
Interesting how governments can claim spectrum, they can only license the generation of frequency within their jurisdiction, you can't own a frequency, try turning off a historic owner that invades the jurisdiction, the sun. For those that don't understand physics I guess to own a spectrum sounds like a good investment in which you rely on an authority to enforce privileged use which nature has been using before our atoms cam together. Even having billions of dollars don make you smart, sold something that doesn't have an owner.
They can auction off what they don't own just like the Federal Reserve 'Loans" the U'S' government a $trillion that doesn't exist until they type the number into the computer terminal. They just make up their own rules. The constitution says the federal government can own the land in the District of Columbia, but where does it say they can own over 50% of Alaska, Idaho, Oregon and Nevada?
This is how it goes. They have the money to get a seat at the table, not individuals like most of us. Short of having someone at the FCC who puts the people first, corporations will continue to steamroll everything that the rest of us enjoy.
Ues it or lose it. You lost it long ago. TV stations never used and lost it. QRZ has a big nice building with lots of luxuries like an indoor swimming pool that can be sold to buy a few kilohertz.
This is an abomination. As if the FCC OWNS the frequencies they auction them off. Absurd! Then why would they feel they need to impose a fee on amateur radio licenses while they make BILLIONS of dollars selling off radio spectrum they don't own.
Even "use it or lose it" doesn't work any longer. TV stations were most definitely using their 600 MHz frequencies (channels 38 through 51). 987 of 2197 stations had to change frequencies after the 600 MHz incentive auction. Intelsat (and others) are definitely using the entire C-band for their satellite downlinks. They got screwed by the FCC which is only going to give them $15B for the 300 MHz. And how can hams possibly use 100's of MHz in our microwave bands? We'd have to build our own LTE or 5G networks or create an alternative Internet. Seems unlikely given the average ham has never transmitted above 450 MHz.
