NEWS
Federal Communications Commission
445 12th Street, S.W.
Washington, D. C.  20554
This is an unofficial announcement of Commission action.  Release of the full text of a Commission order constitutes official action.
See MCI v. FCC. 515 F 2d 385 (D.C. Circ 1974).
News Media Information 202 / 418-0500
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: NEWS MEDIA CONTACT:
January 29, 2015 Louis Peraertz, (202) 418-2100
louis.peraertz@fcc.gov
STATEMENT OF COMMISSIONER MIGNON L. CLYBURN
ON THE RESULTS OF THE AWS-3 AUCTION
If you had conducted a poll of analysts before the start of the AWS-3 auction, the highest 
prediction given for its yield would not have exceeded $18 billion.  Seventy-seven days and a record 
setting $44.89 billion later, Auction 97 has shown that demand for this spectrum was phenomenal.  Some 
experts   opine that the winning bid total is due in large part to bidding and other competitive strategies 
unique to this band.  I believe one of the key factors for this unanticipated level of activity is that the 
AWS-3 bands are near the AWS-1 bands and there are already base stations and other equipment 
available.  Once the FCC makes the bidding activity public, I suspect there will be many more stories 
about the results of this auction.  Nevertheless, what we can all agree on is that the auction’s success 
would not have been possible without the diligent efforts of the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau 
staff, who worked in cooperation with NTIA, DoD and other federal agencies to substantially reduce the 
protection zones of federal operations in the 1755 and 1780 MHz band.  I also want to commend 
Chairman Wheeler for developing a band plan with smaller license blocks and geographic license areas, 
and crafting a strong interoperability mandate to encourage robust participation by both small and large 
entities.  
-- FCC--