Auctions

The massive infrastructure bill making its way through the US legislature includes a section on spectrum auctions, including pre-auction funding for the Department of Defense (DoD) to research sharing and commercial use in the 3.1-3.45 GHz band. The section says once the bill is enacted, $50 million from the Spectrum Relocation Fund would be transferred to the DoD for research, planning and other activities for efficient spectrum use for the purpose of making the band available, including reallocating spectrum for shared federal and non-federal licensed users and conducting an auction. Shar

The Simultaneous Multiple Round Ascending (SMRA) Auction has become a defacto standard auction mechanism for the award of radio spectrum for commercial mobile services around the world. The winning bid price in such SMRA spectrum auctions is of interest, as it determines the valuation of the scarce resource by the mobile operators, and also indicates the revenue accrued to the governments as auction proceeds. This report uses a cross-country panel dataset to examine the determinants of spectrum prices of all the SMRA auctions held in 25 countries from 1994 to 2019.

The Federal Communications Commission is emerging as a key part of the still-murky framework that President Joe Biden and a bipartisan crew of centrist senators rallied around.

In March 2021, the Federal Communications Commission announced a planned auction of new flexible-use licenses in the 3.45-3.55 GHz band (Auction 110). Auction 110 will offer 4,060 new licenses throughout the contiguous US, subject to cooperative sharing requirements in certain, defined areas where and when federal incumbents require continued access to the band. The FCC, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), and the Department of Defense (DoD) are working collaboratively towards these goals.

Sens John Thune (R-SD), Maggie Hassan (D-NH), Jerry Moran (R-KS), and Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) cosponsored the Rural Connectivity Advancement Program (RCAP) Act of 2021, legislation that would dedicate a portion of proceeds from congressionally mandated spectrum auctions to be used for the buildout of broadband networks, which would help strengthen connectivity in rural communities throughout the country. The bill would:

Is our practice of dumping the proceeds from the privatization of the public airwaves into the federal treasury, as is now routinely done, the best use of this precious public resource? No. The nation should dedicate a sizable share of spectrum auction proceeds to closing these digital equity gaps and should establish a reliable, proven vehicle to pursue this task. An endowed, independent, and private charitable foundation would best have the flexibility, research focus, long-term time perspective, and ability to engage other partners that such a mission will require.

Concerns about the 5.9 GHz band came up again during a hearing of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, where Department of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg gave testimony. But that wasn’t all. Committee Chairman Peter DeFazio (D-OR) reiterated his concerns about potential interference from 5G in the C-band – the very band where the likes of Verizon and AT&T just pledged over $80 billion for access to airwaves for 5G.

The Universal Service Fund (USF) is currently on an unsustainable financial path, funded by a regressive surcharge on a shrinking base of telephone customers. If it isn’t fixed, and fixed quickly, the fund won’t be able to meet its mandate and fulfill its connectivity promise – not just to the next generation, but to the current one. So how do we fix USF? 

The Federal Communications Commission took action to make valuable mid-band spectrum in the 3.45-3.55 GHz band available for auction to facilitate 5G deployment across the contiguous US. 2020’s Consolidated Appropriations Act required the FCC to commence a system of competitive bidding for licenses in the 3.45-3.55 GHz band by the end of 2021.

The Federal Communications Commission adopted a Public Notice seeking comment on procedures for the auction of 100 megahertz of mid-band spectrum in the 3.45–3.55 GHz band that can be used to facilitate 5G deployment across the contiguous US. Bidding in Auction 110 is expected to begin in early Oct 2021. This Public Notice works in concert with new rules for the 3.45 GHz band that were also adopted March 17, establishing a framework for coordination of non-federal and federal use and establishing a band plan.