Divvying up the spectrum.

• Author: Fischer, Raymond L.
• Position: Mass Media - Federal Communications Commission and mobile broadband services

"... The Incentive Auctions will promote economic growth and improve the U.S.'s global competitiveness with 'increased speed, capacity, and ubiquity of mobile broadband services.' They also will benefit consumers and businesses by 'accelerating the smartphone- and tablet-led revolution.'"

AS DEMANDS on licensed and unlicensed spectrum increase, the Federal Communications Commission and Chairman Tom Wheeler must ensure wireless networks keep pace with increasing demand. Among countless spectrum users relying on the FCC, statistics show critical economic, public safety, and health care users have increased spectrum demands dramatically. For the nation to maintain its leadership with technological innovation and global competitiveness, the FCC must facilitate expansion of wireless networks and broadband services to include all Americans in the wireless environment.

Over the years, the FCC has pursued several initiatives to expand wireless networks by removing regulatory barriers and innovating efficiency measures. However, spectrum demands now exceed earlier measures. In 2010, the FCC introduced the National Broadband Plan for Incentive Auctions, a voluntary, market-based means of repurposing spectrum usage. By making more spectrums available for mobile broadband use, the Incentive Auctions will benefit consumers by easing congestion on wireless networks; expedite the development of new, more robust wireless services and applications; and help fill in coverage gaps, particularly in rural areas.

The plan encourages licensees to relinquish spectrum usage rights voluntarily in exchange for a share of proceeds from an auction of the repurposed spectrum. In 2012, Congress authorized the National Broadband Plan and granted the FCC authority to hold Incentive Auctions with provisions to safeguard local TV stations during the voluntary process.

In October 2012, the FCC published a "Report and Order" stipulating rules for implementing the Incentive Auctions. The rules adopt a 600 MHz band plan that maximizes spectrum value to potential bidders and provides both large and small bidders "a fair opportunity to acquire spectrum." The band plan will accommodate limited variation in the amount of spectrum recovered from broadcasters in different geographic areas in order to preclude the "least common denominator market" from limiting the quality of spectrum offered across the nation. Following the Incentive Auctions, any unused TV channels in an area will be available for unlicensed devices as well as wireless microphone use. The band plan will not relocate Wireless Medical Telemetry Service or Radio Astronomy Service from Channel 37.

As directed by Congress, the Incentive Auctions will involve two stages: first a reverse auction in...