Spectrum Auction Economics
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Cross-Auction Analytics

15 auctions, 2006–2026 · $216B net nominal = $274B in constant 2025 dollars · every figure reproducible fromanalysis/ in the project repo

Price of spectrum by band, across two decades

Pop-weighted net $/MHz-pop per auction, constant 2025 dollars. Log scale — the low-band-to-mmWave spread is ~125×, a propagation-physics premium: sub-1 GHz signals cover wide areas and penetrate buildings; millimeter wave does neither.

$0.001$0.01$0.1$1$1020062010201420182022202666 AWS-1 (2006) — $0.8515/MHz-pop real66 AWS-173 700-CMA (2008) — $3.9442/MHz-pop real73 700-CMA73 700-BEA (2008) — $1.4888/MHz-pop real73 700-REA (2008) — $0.5657/MHz-pop real97 AWS-3-BEA (2015) — $3.0527/MHz-pop real97 AWS-3-BEA97 AWS-3-CMA (2015) — $2.7704/MHz-pop real1002 600MHz (2017) — $1.1868/MHz-pop real1002 600MHz101 28GHz (2019) — $0.0141/MHz-pop real102 24GHz (2019) — $0.0116/MHz-pop real103 37/39/47 (2020) — $0.0088/MHz-pop real103 37/39/47105 CBRS (2020) — $0.2657/MHz-pop real107 C-band (2021) — $1.1156/MHz-pop real107 C-band108 2.5GHz (2022) — $0.02/MHz-pop real110 3.45 (2022) — $0.8015/MHz-pop real113 AWS-3re (2026) — $2.8289/MHz-pop realLow-band (<1 GHz)Mid-band (1–6 GHz)mmWave (>20 GHz)

Big-3 share of proceeds, auction by auction

AT&T + Verizon + T-Mobile as % of each auction's net proceeds. No time trend — concentration tracks band desirability: the Big 3 dominate beachfront mid/low-band (C-band 96%) and cede share where designated-entity vehicles or fragmented licensing invite everyone else in (CBRS 42%).

0%25%50%75%100%66 AWS-1 (2006) — Big 3 = 60.8% of $14B66 AWS-173 700-CMA (2008) — Big 3 = 95.8% of $9.1B73 700-CMA73 700-BEA (2008) — Big 3 = 50% of $5.1B73 700-BEA73 700-REA (2008) — Big 3 = 99.9% of $4.7B73 700-REA97 AWS-3-BEA (2015) — Big 3 = 82.6% of $35B97 AWS-3-BEA97 AWS-3-CMA (2015) — Big 3 = 18.4% of $5.9B97 AWS-3-CMA1002 600MHz (2017) — Big 3 = 46.1% of $19B1002 600MHz101 28GHz (2019) — Big 3 = 77.8% of $0.7B101 28GHz102 24GHz (2019) — Big 3 = 89% of $2.0B102 24GHz103 37/39/47 (2020) — Big 3 = 89% of $7.6B103 37/39/47105 CBRS (2020) — Big 3 = 41.8% of $4.5B105 CBRS107 C-band (2021) — Big 3 = 96.4% of $81B107 C-band108 2.5GHz (2022) — Big 3 = 73% of $0.4B108 2.5GHz110 3.45 (2022) — Big 3 = 53.4% of $22B110 3.45113 AWS-3re (2026) — Big 3 = 99.7% of $3.6B113 AWS-3re

Who has paid the most (constant 2025 $)

Net winning bids across all 15 auctions, by parent company where confirmed — legal filing name otherwise. SpectrumCo (a 2006 Comcast/TWC joint venture) and others stay under their own names rather than being retroactively attributed.

VerizonVerizon: $96B real ($77B nominal), 10,480 licenses, 13 auctions — click for full profile$96BAT&TAT&T: $80B real ($63B nominal), 7,902 licenses, 10 auctions — click for full profile$80BT-MobileT-Mobile: $36B real ($29B nominal), 13,998 licenses, 12 auctions — click for full profile$36BDISHDISH: $31B real ($24B nominal), 7,912 licenses, 5 auctions — click for full profile$31BSpectrumCo LLCSpectrumCo LLC: $3.8B real ($2.4B nominal), 137 licenses, 1 auctions — click for full profile$3.8BUScellularUScellular: $3.1B real ($2.6B nominal), 2,026 licenses, 8 auctions — click for full profile$3.1BComcastComcast: $2.3B real ($1.7B nominal), 73 licenses, 1 auctions — click for full profile$2.3BMetroPCS AWS, LLCMetroPCS AWS, LLC: $2.2B real ($1.4B nominal), 8 licenses, 1 auctions — click for full profile$2.2B

Hottest metros, normalized across every FCC geography scheme

The FCC has licensed spectrum under five different area schemes since 2006 (PEA, CMA, BEA, REA, county) — this site is the only place that maps them to one identity per metro. New York is "PEA001" in one auction and "CMA001" in another; here it's one number. PEA and county resolve to BEA exactly; CMA is a population-weighted best match (it's an independent MSA-based scheme that doesn't nest cleanly in BEA — hover a bar for match confidence). 700 MHz's REA-level licenses aren't shown here — REA is a coarser grouping than BEA and can't be split back down without guessing.

NYC-Long Is. NY-NJ-CT-PA-MA-VTNYC-Long Is. NY-NJ-CT-PA-MA-VT: $31B real across 14 auctions (via BEA+CMA+PEA+county)$31BLA-Riverside-Orange Cnty CA-AZLA-Riverside-Orange Cnty CA-AZ: $25B real across 13 auctions (via BEA+CMA+PEA+county)$25BChicago-Gary-Kenosha IL-IN-WIChicago-Gary-Kenosha IL-IN-WI: $13B real across 14 auctions (via BEA+CMA+PEA+county)$13BSan Fran.-Oakland-San Jose CASan Fran.-Oakland-San Jose CA: $10B real across 13 auctions (via BEA+CMA+PEA+county)$10BWash.-Balt. DC-MD-VA-WV-PAWash.-Balt. DC-MD-VA-WV-PA: $9.8B real across 13 auctions (via BEA+CMA+PEA+county)$9.8BDallas-Fort Worth TX-AR-OKDallas-Fort Worth TX-AR-OK: $9.7B real across 13 auctions (via BEA+CMA+PEA+county)$9.7BBoston-Worcester MA-NH-RI-VTBoston-Worcester MA-NH-RI-VT: $7.7B real across 13 auctions (via BEA+CMA+PEA+county)$7.7BMiami-Fort Lauderdale FLMiami-Fort Lauderdale FL: $7.4B real across 13 auctions (via BEA+CMA+PEA+county)$7.4BHouston-Galveston-Brazoria TXHouston-Galveston-Brazoria TX: $7.1B real across 13 auctions (via BEA+CMA+PEA+county)$7.1BPhil.-Atl. City PA-NJ-DE-MDPhil.-Atl. City PA-NJ-DE-MD: $6.9B real across 13 auctions (via BEA+CMA+PEA+county)$6.9BAtlanta GA-AL-NCAtlanta GA-AL-NC: $5.9B real across 13 auctions (via BEA+CMA+PEA+county)$5.9BPhoenix-Mesa AZ-NMPhoenix-Mesa AZ-NM: $5.2B real across 13 auctions (via BEA+CMA+PEA+county)$5.2BDetroit-Ann Arbor-Flint MIDetroit-Ann Arbor-Flint MI: $5.1B real across 13 auctions (via BEA+CMA+PEA+county)$5.1BSeattle-Tacoma-Bremerton WASeattle-Tacoma-Bremerton WA: $4.3B real across 13 auctions (via BEA+CMA+PEA+county)$4.3BSan Diego CASan Diego CA: $4.2B real across 12 auctions (via BEA+CMA+PEA+county)$4.2B

Methodology: pop-weighted $/MHz-pop = Σnet ÷ Σ(MHz × pop) per auction, on each auction's own FCC-scored population basis; CPI-U deflated to 2025 dollars (2025/2026 values provisional). Full methodology and reproducible scripts in the repo's analysis/REPORT.md.