FCC agenda outlines plan to auction 180 MHz spectrum within five years

The Broadband Action Agenda, released from the Federal Communications Commission this week, provides additional details about how the commission plans to meet its goal of making 300 MHz of new spectrum available to support wireless broadband within the next five years, including auctions that would involve 180 MHz of spectrum. In its Broadband Action Agenda, the FCC outlined a timeline for meeting spectrum goals and other goals put forth in the National Broadband Plan released three weeks ago, including a plan for re-purposing 120 MHz of spectrum already allocated to the communications industry.

The 180 MHz of spectrum that the FCC proposes to free up would involve three new auctions — including two targeted for 2011 and one in 2012 or 2013.

The big auction targeted for 2011 would be in the AWS band, where the FCC hopes to free up as much as 60 MHz of spectrum in the 1755 to 1850 MHz band that is currently in federal hands. The auction would be preceded by a 2010 order.

The other 2011 auction would involve the D block, which has been allocated to public safety and for which a 2008 auction failed to generate a minimum bid. In February FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said “the private sector simply is not going to build a nationwide, state-of-the-art interoperable broadband network for public safety on its own dime.” 

At that time, Genachowski said the National Broadband Plan would ask Congress for $16 to $18 billion to help support construction and operation of the public safety network, but by the time the plan came out in March, that number dropped to $6.5 billion. How an auction figures into these plans is unclear, but it could be related to why that number dropped.

Perhaps the most controversial new source of spectrum is the one slated for an auction in 2012 or 2013. At that time, the government proposes to auction off 120 MHz of broadcast television spectrum. That spectrum is currently in the hands of broadcasters, who have had it for decades. The plan calls for enticing broadcasters to relinquish spectrum by giving them a portion of the auction proceeds. This idea is likely to garner some opposition, as broadcasters were never required to pay for the spectrum, which dates back to the days before spectrum auctions. Opponents will have their opportunity to vent when a notice of proposed rulemaking about the proposed auction comes out in 2010.