Broadband Bombshell

[Commentary] The future of the Internet is mobile. Therefore it is not surprising that a main goal of the Federal Communications Commission's long-awaited National Broadband Plan is to increase the availability of electromagnetic spectrum.

What is surprising is that the FCC's current recommendation focuses on broadcasters and gives short shrift to what is potentially the largest source of additional spectrum -- which is now occupied by the federal government.

The administration should immediately task the National Academy of Sciences with making an inventory of current federal allocations and usage, estimating the value in alternative uses of the various spectrum bands and identifying areas of surplus or underusage that could be auctioned. This effort could complement the spectrum bills currently under consideration in Congress.

The administration should then convene a high-level federal task force, including the heads of Office of Management and Budget, the Department of Commerce and the FCC, to make specific recommendations, based on the NAS study, for spectrum bands that should be auctioned. Over the longer run, to provide better incentives for government agencies to economize on spectrum, we recommend the creation of a Government Spectrum Ownership Corp., based on the model of the U.S. General Services Administration, which the federal government uses for its real estate needs.

The Government Spectrum Ownership Corp. should take possession of all federally held spectrum and grant annual leases with options to renew to the existing spectrum-holding agencies. The corporation should charge market-oriented rents for the spectrum (like the GSA does for real estate), and return the revenues to the Treasury. Federal agencies would thereby start facing incentives to consider the opportunity costs of the spectrum that they occupy.