On Wednesday, the Federal Communications Commission announced the winners of an $81 billion auction for the license to use important airwaves that are ideal for 5G.
The big winners were Verizon and AT&T. They need these airwaves in order to build 5G networks, which are significantly faster than current wireless service.
Verizon, through its Cellco Partnership subsidiary, bid nearly $45.5 billion on the airwaves. AT&T, through AT&T Spectrum Frontiers, bid $23.4 billion. The third-largest U.S. carrier, T-Mobile, bid the third-largest amount of money, $9.3 billion.
The sums spent by the companies ended up much higher than expectations for the auction last summer, which reflects how important securing licenses for the airwaves is for the carriers.
“These record-breaking results highlight the demand and critical need for more licensed mid-band spectrum and demonstrate the importance of developing a robust spectrum auction pipeline,” said CTIA CEO Meredith Baker in a statement. CTIA is a trade group that represents the wireless industry. Bidders are still under a quiet period, when they are not permitted to publicly comment.