Why don't we just auction the 'white space'?

WHY DON'T WE JUST AUCTION THE 'WHITE SPACE'?
[SOURCE: C-Net|News.com, AUTHOR: Thomas Lenard, Progress & Freedom Foundation]
[Commentary] In this new wireless era, the electromagnetic spectrum is surely one of the most important economic policy issues the government faces, with hundreds of billions of dollars of economic benefits at stake. Economists who study the spectrum issue are virtually unanimous in concluding that the only way to assure that spectrum is allocated to its highest-valued uses is by allowing a market in spectrum rights to develop. They argue that spectrum is analogous to real estate, which operates efficiently only under a market-allocation regime. Managing spectrum the right way will speed the delivery of innovative new wireless communications technologies to consumers. Doing it the wrong way will impose hundreds of billions of dollars of costs on the economy. The FCC will follow a market allocation model when it auctions the advanced wireless service spectrum later this year and the DTV spectrum in 2009. There is no obvious reason that the TV broadcast white space should be allocated any differently. The white space bills now pending in Congress are doing it the wrong way and, if enacted, will constitute a significant setback on the road to a rational spectrum policy.
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