The National Broadband Plan didn’t propose tax credits for building specified...

Blair Levin, the executive director of the FCC’s broadband plan work, said Wednesday at the Congressional Internet Caucus’ State of the Mobile Internet Conference. Another concern was government’s putting a heavy thumb on a scale regarding capital investment, he said. A third concern was that tax credits could “unfairly tilt the competitive playing field,” Levin said. But there’s no debate about the importance of spectrum to the future of private investment, he said, adding that the least productive use of spectrum is when it’s “lying fallow due to government inaction.” The FCC clarified rules in a way that allowed a licensee of MSS spectrum to commit to building a new 4G network, Levin said. There’s little evidence in the U.S. today of mobile broadband competing with fixed broadband, he said. Near term, a more competitive mobile market could produce prices that prompt low-end fixed providers, generally telcos, to cut prices or upgrade their networks, which would add pressure on cable providers using DOCSIS 3.0, Levin said. New business models in the mobile broadband market may emerge, in secondary, unlicensed or opportunistic use of spectrum, he said, adding that “we should want each to have the spectrum and other inputs necessary” to realize the full potential of innovations. The most important long-term recommendations involved integrating market mechanisms into spectrum allocation, Levin said. Under current law, nobody wins, he said: Broadcasters can’t efficiently monetize their spectrum licenses, the government can’t share auction proceeds during tough economic times and Americans miss out on potential jobs and economic growth that greater investment would create. When the government allocates spectrum based on history rather than markets, it substantially reduces the private investment that follows, he said. That’s why the FCC should have the ability to offer current holders of spectrum, government and private, incentives to put their spectrum into an auction so that it can be used for a new purpose when consumer demands and markets change, he said. These broadcast stations are worth less than the value of their spectrum, he said. And Levin said a 6 MHz broadcast license generally ties up additional spectrum for interference protection. “The most fruitful place to look for incentives for billions of dollars of capital investment is in spectrum policy,” he said. “We don’t know how wireless will grow, so we have to make sure there is sufficient spectrum for licensed and unlicensed, sufficient transparency for a robust secondary market and sufficient opportunity for competition.”