FCC adopts rules to auction spectrum, provide $9.7B in satellite incentive payments
WASHINGTON, Feb 28 (Reuters) - The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voted 3-2 on Friday to adopt rules to auction a key band spectrum for wireless use that includes up to $9.7 billion in potential incentive payments to satellite companies.
The C-band is a block of spectrum used by satellite company customers to deliver video and radio programming to 120 million U.S. households. The FCC says it is critical it free up spectrum for next-generation 5G networks, but Republican Senator John Kennedy and some Democrats have criticized the payments to the satellite firms to speed relocatation to a different part of the spectrum block. Intelsat SA could receive up to $4.9 billion in incentive payments.
(Reporting by David Shepardson)
