T-Mobile has gotten an early Christmas present from the Congress as they passed a bill enabling the Un-carrier to take ownership of their acquired spectrum licenses. The bill authorizes ownership to T-Mobile US and the other winners of the 2022 2.5 GHz spectrum license auction. Ever since the Federal Communication Commission’s (FCC) spectrum auction authority expired, processing the spectrum has been in limbo. 

Despite wrapping up the auction in fall 2022, the FCC had to stop all of its related activities when their statutory authority expired in March 2023. Because of this, the FCC had to stop processing the licenses that were already auctioned off and paid for. 

Thankfully, the Congress passed the 5G SALE Act, which gives the FCC the authority to continue processing these licenses. The bill, however, does not mean the regulator’s auction authority is reinstated. Since the House and Senate passed this bill, the next step is for President Joe Biden to sign it into law. 

This announcement may be good news for T-Mobile, which won over 7,100 licenses in the auction and spent around $304 million for it. The waiting, however, does not end here. They still have to wait for the bill to be signed into a law by the President.

Source: RCR Wireless