CTIA Offers Own Timetable for FCC Auction Action

Wireless companies have proposed a timeline for the Federal Communications Commission to reclaim and re-auction spectrum from broadcasters and governments users to feed the country's voracious appetitive for spectrum. To feed those hungry hoards, CTIA The Wireless Association suggested in letters to the relevant agencies, it will take "immediate action by the FCC and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration ('NTIA') is needed in partnership with stakeholders such as CTIA and its members, in the shadow of the second anniversary of the National Broadband Plan."

The plan, which set a target date of freeing up 300 MHz of spectrum by 2105, was released March 17, 2010. The two-page list of dates, part of what CTIA says is a blueprint for action, includes a rulemaking proposal on forward incentive auctions by May 2012 and an order by March 26, 2013. CTIA wants the first auction -- in which broadcasters offer up spectrum and the FCC chooses the lowest bidder -- to be completed by Jan. 7, 2014, and the second auction, in which that reclaimed spectrum is sold to the highest bidder, to be completed by Oct. 14, 2012.