Sprint today confirmed that it will skip an upcoming spectrum auction. “Sprint has decided not to participate in the FCC’s AWS-3 auction, but will continue to evaluate the opportunities presented by the upcoming 600MHz incentive auction,” said Sprint spokesman Jeffrey Silva to Bloomberg.
Auction 97 will see 1,614 spectrum licenses sold by the government to wireless network operators. The auction will start November 13, with a trial auction scheduled for November 10. The spectrum includes 65MHz in the 1695-1710MHz, 1755-1780MHz, and 2155-2180MHz bands.
AT&T, Dish Networks, Verizon Wireless, and many smaller companies plan to participate in the auction. The FCC has another auction, for 600MHz spectrum, scheduled for mid 2015. AT&T and Verizon already have significant low-band spectrum holdings, while Sprint does not.
Sprint is more interested in the 600MHz spectrum for this reason. Low-band spectrum is valued for its propagation characteristics.
