Wire · technology
Eutelsat, SES secure $6.1bn for clearing US satellite spectrum
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Fusion42 · 27 July 2026 · Fusion42 review
The FCC has approved $6.1 billion in payments to Eutelsat ($504m) and SES ($5.6bn) to vacate C-band satellite spectrum by 2030-2031, freeing 160 MHz for terrestrial 5G expansion. The move includes cost reimbursement and precedes a July 2027 auction of 60 MHz of upper C-band spectrum.
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◆ ◆ The Wire takeaway
Terrestrial wireless carriers just acquired 160 MHz of prime C-band spectrum without bidding; now they need to build the backhaul, power, and edge compute to use it. If you sell tower infrastructure, power conditioning, or edge data centres to carriers, you have a 4-year build window starting now.
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