AWS-3 spectrum auction finally ends at $44.9B

The FCC said bidding in the AWS-3 spectrum auction, known as auction 97, is now closed after 341 rounds. Total provisional winning bids came in at a record $44.899 billion. That's far more money than the FCC raised in its previous spectrum auctions. The auction closed less than 24 hours after the FCC had said that bidding had ended on the 50 MHz of paired spectrum being auctioned off. The FCC was also auctioning 15 MHz of unpaired uplink spectrum, the 1695-1710 MHz band. FierceWireless has a complete rundown here.