FCC chairman draws on new spectrum report to fuel 'two-sided' auctions

Ideally, decisions are driven by real-world data, but federal agencies sometimes have put the cart before the horse when it comes to policy decisions—for example, issuing broadband stimulus funds before the results of a broadband mapping program were available. But a new forecast of broadband spectrum demand issued by the FCC this week was well timed to support several items on the agenda for the FCC’s next monthly meeting in November and to draw attention to a new Technology Advisory Committee formed by the FCC.

According to the report, demand for mobile communications spectrum is likely to exceed supply by 300 MHz within the next five years, driven by significant growth of mobile broadband traffic on the order of 35 times recent levels.

On the FCC’s November meeting agenda

FCC Chairman Genachowski cited the research findings in an address at an FCC Spectrum Summit yesterday, asking for support for three related initiatives on the agenda for the November FCC meeting.

Of these, the one that would have the most immediate impact is a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) to lay the groundwork for implementing two-sided incentive auctions to enable broadcasters to voluntarily relinquish spectrum. The FCC would then auction the spectrum for broadband use, sharing some of the proceeds with the previous licensees—an idea that got its genesis in the National Broadband Plan issued in March. Action by Congress is needed before the FCC can move ahead with that plan, however.

The second agenda item for which Genachowski asked support is an NPRM to expand the FCC’s experimental licensing program. Pointing to previous experimental licenses used to develop vehicle anti-collision systems and Super WiFi, Genachowski said, “The goal is to accelerate innovation—reducing the time for an idea to get from the lab to the market.”

Thirdly, Genachowski pitched a notice of inquiry to “accelerate opportunistic uses of spectrum—the key word being opportunity—including technological advances that enable greater use of secondary markets.”

Noting that some swaths of spectrum are not being used to their full potential, Genachowski said the FCC is looking at a number of different ways to unlock that resource, including improved databases, sensing technology or “new innovations in the works at various private companies.” Genachowski said the NOI will look at how these technologies could be used to foster more robust secondary markets.

The Technical Advisory Committee

Genachowski also used the Spectrum Summit as an opportunity to announce the formation of a new Technology Advisory Committee (TAC), to be headed by Tom Wheeler, manager of Core Capital Partners and former CEO of CTIA, the wireless association.

“I have charged the TAC with providing counsel on using spectrum and other communications technologies to drive job creation and economic growth,” Genachowski said.

On the committee will be several FCC officials, as well as nearly three dozen telecom industry luminaries, many of whom will be familiar names to Connected Planet readers. These include Internet guru Vinton Cerf, who is now vice president and chief Internet evangelist for Google; Richard Lynch, executive vice president and chief technology officer for Verizon; and Tom Evslin, former AT&T and ITXC executive who is now a member of the board of the Vermont Telecommunications Authority.