Chairman Pai Remarks on Post-Incentive Auction Repack

To meet the booming demand for mobile broadband that was being fueled by the smartphone revolution, Congress empowered the Federal Communications Commission to conduct a first-of-its-kind, two-sided auction that would allow spectrum used for broadcast TV to be repurposed for wireless services. In April 2017, we closed the bidding in the incentive auction, which yielded $19.8 billion in revenue. Roughly $10 billion went to broadcasters as incentive payments for giving up their spectrum. $7 billion went to deficit reduction, and $1.75 billion is available to repacked broadcasters to reimburse them for their reasonable costs of relocating to new channels. And most important, 84 megahertz of low-band spectrum in the 600 MHz band would be repurposed for licensed and unlicensed wireless use. But I haven't even described the hard part yet: the repack. 

The deadline for the transition is today [July 13], and I’m proud to announce that we have accomplished our objective. All of the valuable low-band airwaves sold in the ground-breaking broadcast incentive auction are now available for wireless broadband service. Today represents a major milestone in the FCC’s goal to repurpose spectrum to meet the demands of today’s wireless consumer. Thanks again to everybody who contributed to this remarkable success story!