incentive auction

As the Federal Communications Commission establishes the rules for its upcoming incentive spectrum auction, competitive carriers say they do not want to see a repeat of what happened with the 700MHz spectrum auction in 2008.

"The 700MHz auction was a disaster," Patrick Riordan, CEO of the rural Wisconsin carrier Cellcom, said at the Competitive Carrier Association's annual conference this week. "The FCC needs to get this one right. We all need spectrum too much. It has to be a level playing field."

On Friday the FCC will open comment on a proposal for how the … Read more

It looks like Congress will finally authorize incentive spectrum auctions.

Today, Republicans and Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate agreed on legislation that will authorize the extension of the payroll tax cuts and the unemployment benefits. And they also authorized the Federal Communications Commission to auction off wireless spectrum as part of the package. Revenue from the incentive auctions will be used to help pay for the tax cuts and unemployment benefits.

The spectrum auction was proposed as part of the 2010 National Broadband Plan. It calls for TV broadcasters who have wireless spectrum they aren'… Read more

Two years into a decade-long plan to free up wireless spectrum to handle an explosion in mobile data traffic growth, Washington politics are crippling the Federal Communications Commission's ability to reach any of its goals.

In March 2010, the FCC identified in its National Broadband Plan a dire need for more spectrum in the U.S. It outlined a timeline for getting 300 megahertz of spectrum in the pipeline by 2015 with an additional 200MHz opened up for auction by 2020. In total the plan would create 500MHz of new wireless spectrum that could be auctioned off, or nearly … Read more

President Obama included authorization for incentive wireless spectrum auctions and spectrum reallocation for public safety as part of his American Jobs Act.

On Monday, the White House released a fact-sheet detailing President Obama's jobs bill, which he first talked about last week in his address to Congress. As part of this legislation, he is calling for wireless auctions that would help reduce the deficit and would also provide wireless broadband services for at least 98 percent of Americans. These are goals that his administration has also outlined in the National Broadband Plan.

Specifically, the American Jobs Bill would authorize … Read more

What's keeping Congress from authorizing the FCC to auction off underutilized television spectrum badly needed for mobile broadband? The answer, strangely enough, is Net neutrality--specifically, the FCC's "Open Internet" rules passed at the end of 2010 and which are only now being published.

While mobile Internet spectrum is at a premium, most over-the-air television broadcasters are not making full use of the spectrum allocated to them as part of the transition to digital TV in 2009. So the FCC and the White House have been pushing hard for new powers that would let the FCC conduct … Read more

Congressional leaders seem to be throwing everything but the kitchen sink into the debate over the budget and raising the debt ceiling. Now it looks like the incentive wireless spectrum auctions proposed by the Federal Communications Commission may end up as part of a package that is being hashed out by Republicans and Democrats in Washington, D.C.

On Monday, Senate Majority leader Harry Reid included the sale of wireless spectrum to mobile broadband providers in his proposed package of cuts and revenue-raisers. He said he expects the sale of wireless spectrum to generate $15 billion in revenue for the … Read more

The Senate Commerce Committee voted Wednesday to approve legislation aimed at resolving long-standing issues for mobile broadband users, both public and private.

Co-sponsored by Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller (D-W. Va.) and Ranking Member Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Tx.), S. 911, the "Public Safety Spectrum and Wireless Innovation Act," had wide bipartisan support, passing the committee by a vote of 21-4. (A current version of the bill is not available online, pending several amendments approved during the markup.)

A key provision of the proposed law would authorize the Federal Communications Commission to hold "voluntary incentive auctions" both to … Read more

The Obama administration has enlisted the help of more than 100 economists to make its case for incentive spectrum auctions that will free up more airwaves for wireless broadband services.

Today, the White House presented a letter signed by 112 economists "who specialize in telecommunications, auction theory and design, and/or competitive policy." The signed letter was part of a summit that the administration put together in an effort to persuade Congress to authorize a round of incentive auctions that would take unused broadcast TV spectrum and use it for wireless broadband services.

In the letter the economists … Read more