Bidders are getting their virtual paddles ready as the FCC is poised to kick off the 28 GHz auction on Wednesday, Nov. 14, to be followed by the 24 GHz auction. According to the FCC, the 1.55 gigahertz of spectrum offered in these two high bands will be critical in deploying 5G, IoT and other advanced services—and they’re expected to bring in billions of dollars for the U.S. Treasury.

The 28 GHz auction marks the first-ever auction of high-band spectrum dedicated to the deployment of 5G wireless services in the U.S. It’s not the first time for the spectrum to be put up for auction—that’s a process that started back in the 1990s, when it was known as local multipoint distribution service (LMDS) spectrum. But since then, it’s become the subject of untold numbers of 5G trials and engineers have developed new ways of using beam-steering and other technologies to make it work for the next generation of wireless.

The 28 GHz band will be licensed as two 425-megahertz blocks (27.500- 27.925 GHz and 27.925-28.350 GHz). For each county in which 28 GHz licenses will be available for auction, both blocks of the 28 GHz band will be available. The lower segment of the 24 GHz band will be licensed as two 100-megahertz blocks while the upper segment will be licensed as five 100-megahertz blocks, for a total of 700 megahertz in each market.