They are all going to say they are working on it. I'm talking about 28Ghz that the FCC is auctioning off. I don't see that happening except for maybe in the largest cities and not for 3-5 years. So what's the rush? (unless the shutdown is going to last for months or years)
Yes, given where the equipment suppliers are in their development, I'd say 3-5 years is about right.
I don't know for 100% sure but my feeling is that the licensees want to be sure of exactly what frequencies they will obtain because it affects equipment decisions (i.e., optimizations for a certain band) and given that it takes their equipment suppliers 1-2 years to get final versions from their suppliers, nailing those down soon would seem important.
But also, the FCC does like $$$, don't they?