The Real Lesson of the AWS-3 Auction

Everyone is talking about “lessons learned” from the recently completed AWS-3 auction. It comes as no surprise to us that T-Mobile, Sprint, and others are trying to teach the wrong one. These companies are claiming that AT&T and Verizon “dominated” the auction and that the Federal Communications Commission has to act now to ensure the same thing doesn’t happen in 2016’s incentive auction. What may be surprising to some is how at odds with the facts these claims are.

Let’s look at what really happened in the AWS-3 auction: Of the 31 applicants that won licenses, one entity bought more licenses, more spectrum, and covered more POPs (the measure of the number of people covered by each megahertz of spectrum) than any other -- and it wasn’t Verizon or AT&T. So what is the lesson that policymakers should take from the AWS-3 auction? The FCC should reject calls to give T-Mobile and Sprint even bigger swaths of cheap spectrum in next year’s incentive auction. Indeed, DISH’s performance in the auction demonstrates the risk of unintended consequences that flow from attempts to favor certain participants. The FCC should focus instead on putting spectrum in hands of those who will put it to use to serve America’s consumers.