Ed Lazarus: Congressional Limits Cramp Spectrum Auctions

While a new law gives the Federal Communications Commission the authority to sell more spectrum licenses to private companies, former FCC Chief of Staff Edward Lazarus said that limits placed by Congress could limit the amount of available spectrum in the end.

“New spectrum legislation obviously holds a lot of promise, but there are a lot of restrictions that Congress put on the FCC,” he said at an event hosted by the Information Technology & Innovation Foundation. After nearly three years of developing and enacting policies under Chairman Julius Genachowski, the FCC is entering a phase where it will face challenges implementing policies like auctioning spectrum, Lazarus said. Lazarus, who left the FCC on Jan. 31, said that during his tenure, the agency took steps to increase broadband adoption, to free up wireless spectrum, and to enact network neutrality rules to prevent anticompetitive behavior online. Now, after phases of developing plans and building a foundation of policies, the FCC needs to put these plans and policies into practice he said. Lazarus sees managing spectrum in a way that will benefit consumers, companies, and the government's wallet as a delicate balancing act. “Driving public interest is not always the same as driving revenue maximization,” he said. Lazarus also pointed to legal and congressional challenges to the FCC's authority and debates over wireless competition, noting those as areas where the agency will be tested as it seeks to manage spectrum. In the wake of the FCC’s decision to block AT&T’s merger with T-Mobile, Lazarus said there is no “magic number” of companies that will ensure a competitive wireless market. Instead, regulators must look at how companies are acting, he said.