Australia Plans to Start the 5G Auction in October

The Australian government recently announced that it plans to auction 125MHz 3.5GHZ band spectrum for 5G deployment in October this year. The auction rules will be drawn up by ACMA, a telecommunications regulator, and will be consulted by the public.

It is reported that this band is currently allocated to fixed satellite service earth stations, point-to-point links and site wireless broadband services. Existing users in most capital cities will gradually move out of the band within two years. However, in view of local remote areas in Australia, ACMA has proposed an unprecedented “seven-year replanning period”, and existing users can continue to use this band until mid-2020. Regulators also plan to work with existing suppliers to study alternative 5.6 GHz and other alternative licensing options.