Recap: Promoting Broadband, Jobs and Economic Growth Through Commercial Spectrum Auctions

On June 1, the House Commerce Committee's Subcommittee on Communications and Technology held a hearing on the potential benefits of making additional spectrum available for wireless broadband.

Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden (R-OR) made a strong case for passing incentive auction legislation. Chairman Walden said he supports incentive auctions and said the wireless industry’s track record for innovation is "second-to-none." Still, the former broadcast industry executive also worked to allay the concerns of broadcasters, reiterating that participation must be "voluntary." "Any incentive auction in which a licensee forfeits spectrum rights must be voluntary. This is not only good spectrum policy, it is good economic policy. Incentive auctions help match willing buyers and willing sellers. If a broadcast station values its spectrum more than a potential wireless broadband provider is willing to pay, the station will not be forced off the air," Chairman Walden said.

Subcommittee ranking member Rep Anna Eshoo (D-CA) also made a strong push for incentive auctions in her opening statement. "Voluntary incentive auctions will address our nation’s growing demand for wireless, while providing a financial incentive for broadcasters to give back spectrum," she said.

Veteran broadcaster Bert Ellis says the Federal Communications Commission should make putting TV tuner chips in handsets the price of entry for wireless companies in an incentive spectrum auction, and for approval of the combo of major wireless players AT&T and T-Mobile. Ellis, currently president of Titan Broadcasting, says he may well sell some of the spectrum from some of his stations under the right conditions. Those conditions also include making sure that the stations, his and others, that remain after an auction retain the same coverage area, do not suffer increased interference, and do not impact the ability to deliver new services, like mobile DTV.

The Public Interest Spectrum Coalition (PISC) said that Congress should consider a comprehensive spectrum policy that recognizes the importance of the “white spaces” created by the gaps between digital TV channels, and not focus solely on commercial spectrum that can be auctioned. In written testimony, Harold Feld, legal director for Public Knowledge stressed the benefits that can be obtained from using unlicensed “white space” spectrum: “Using unlicensed spectrum to increase access to spectrum for new entrants to provide more competition among commercial license holders will allow more ubiquitous access through a deregulatory, free market approach and exponentially grow capacity to match exponential growth in mobile data demand.” Feld testified on behalf of the coalition.