Verizon dominated the 2021 C Band auction, spending $45.45 billion for 3,500 licenses
Verizon revealed this week that it now has access to the total amount of 5G C-band spectrum awarded at auction in March 2021, four months earlier than expected. According to the carrier, it can now more quickly double and, in some cases triple, the 5G bandwidth of its 5G mmWave and C-band network, which is calls 5G Ultra Wideband.
In addition to deliver more capacity and higher data speeds, Verizon claimed the additional spectrum will allow it to offer 5G Home broadband and Business Internet services to more customers.
During the 2021 C-band auction, Verizon made headlines by winning spectrum worth a staggering $45.45 billion, nearly double the amount spent by the second-highest bidder, AT&T. The C-band auction raised a gross total of $81.17 billion, smashing the previous auction record of $44 billion raised in the AWS-3 auction that ran in 2014-2015 and raised nearly $45 billion, and Verizon, by itself, spent more on C-band spectrum than the AWS-3 auction raised from all bidders.
Verizon won C-Band licenses for between 140-200 MHz in all available markets, and in 2022, began deploying 60 MHz in the first 46 areas. Today, the carrier claims to cover more than 222 million people in 359 markets with C-band and more than 40 million households have access to Verizon’s Home Internet.
With the additional spectrum now cleared by the satellite incumbents, Verizon can use the entirety of its licensed C-band spectrum, an average of 161 MHz coast to coast with some markets accessing a full 200 MHz. “Verizon has been deploying equipment that is capable of the full 200 MHz of bandwidth, so with a mere software update, customers will start to see the effects of this dramatic increase in bandwidth in the immediate next few days and weeks,” stated the carrier. It added that specifically, it now has access to a minimum 140 megahertz of total spectrum in the contiguous United States and an average of 161 megahertz nationwide and as much as 200 megahertz in 158 mostly rural markets covering nearly 40 million people.
According to Joe Russo, EVP & president of global networks and technology for Verizon, early access to the remainder of the C-band spectrum puts the carrier an additional four months ahead of schedule from its original projections.
