FCC aims to auction H Block spectrum as soon as January

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has said that it could conduct an auction for allocation of 1900MHz H block spectrum as soon as January 2014. If it does, this will be the first major spectrum sale since 2008. The spectrum will be auctioned in 176 individual Economic Areas across the country.

The FCC is seeking public comment on its proposed rules for the auction, including the reserve price and the value of minimum opening bids.

"I encourage commenters to provide comprehensive feedback so that there is a robust record upon which to issue final auction procedures, and I hope that we will commence the H Block auction on Jan. 14, 2014," commissioner Ajit Pai said.

The H Block is a 10 MHz block of paired airwaves that runs from 1915-1920 MHz (for the uplink) and from 1995-2000 MHz (for the downlink). The H Block is part of 65 MHz of spectrum Congress mandated the FCC to auction by February 2015. As Democratic Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel noted last month, of the 65 MHz that has been identified, the H Block is the only block that is paired and not in use by government agencies, so revenue generated from the auction of the H Block will not have to be used to pay government users to move off the spectrum.

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