FCC Approves Plan to Pay Satellite Companies to Give Up Airwaves
- Intelsat asked for bigger cut of spectrum-clearing payments
- FCC votes on payout plan to clear airwaves for use by 5G
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U.S. regulators approved a plan to pay Intelsat SA and other satellite providers to give up airwaves so they can be redeployed for the fast 5G mobile networks being rolled out.
The Federal Communications Commission on a 3-2 vote Friday approved Chairman Ajit Pai’s plan for as much as $9.7 billion to clear the frequencies, with the money coming from bidders expected to include large telephone companies such as Verizon Communications Inc.