FCC’s Genachowski Expects Incentive Auctions to Become Worldwide Tool

Speaking at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski made a pitch for more mobile and unlicensed spectrum. And while he blamed the lack of spectrum on inefficiency, he did not directly blame broadcasters, saying it was "often" not their fault. Chairman Genachowski said that he expected the FCC's just-approved authority to hold incentive auctions to pay broadcasters for giving up spectrum would become a worldwide tool. He said the FCC would take "concrete steps" in the "near future," to begin implementing the incentive auction legislation. The chairman made a pitch for more efficient use of government spectrum, saying that it was taking too long to reclaim government spectrum -- he said the traditional timetable is "untenable" -- and that serious testing of government sharing of its spectrum with commercial users needed to begin.