Incentive Auctions, Unlicensed Spectrum Contribute to Spectrum Policy Reform, White House Official Says
The federal government is taking the necessary steps to reform its spectrum policy through several efforts, like incentive auctions and assessing possibilities for spectrum sharing, said government officials Tuesday at the Brookings Institution. Spectrum sharing, incentive auctions, potential for unlicensed spectrum, and reallocating public spectrum can provide opportunities for growth in better utilized spectrum, said Jason Furman, chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers. While spectrum has been shared over different kinds of users, “recent advances in communications technology promise dramatic increases in the intensity and dynamism of sharing,” he said. All communications devices autonomously negotiating shared use of common spectrum will be a boon to innovation across all sectors, he said.
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The U.S. should explore the possibilities offered by unlicensed spectrum, Furman said. This will enable more devices to be used in fixed locations within small radii, he said. Furman said the argument that unlicensed spectrum doesn’t bring in money directly like licensed spectrum does is “overly narrow” and doesn’t take into account the contributions that such spectrum would make to the economy overall. The approaches should be undertaken simultaneously, Furman said. The two uses are compatible and necessary to achieve President Barack Obama’s goal of adding 500 MHz of spectrum over the next decade, he said.
There has been a lot of success in the country in the wireless space over the past few years, said Tom Power, deputy chief technology officer for telecom at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. Even the recession saw growth in the wireless sector and the administration wants it to continue as an “evolving success story,” he said. It’s important to get the agencies to minimize their spectrum footprint while still allowing them to carry out their vital missions, he said. The TV incentive auction, the H block auction earlier this year, and other initiatives have offered opportunities for more spectrum, he said. The president’s 2013 spectrum sharing memorandum also directed agencies to report on how they use spectrum, Power said. It’s important because agencies’ spectrum use differs greatly from the commercial sector’s, he said. An NTIA compendium addresses this task, he said.
Before the FCC can proceed with the AWS-3 auction, it has to certify that the expected proceeds will be 110 percent of the expected costs that the agencies will incur during relocation, Power said. The government has been working to ensure it can pay agency costs and “get to a point where we know that what’s going to be freed up will pay for them,” Power said.
Having an auction for the right to negotiate with a federal agency could be successful, Power said. A bidder would know what band the spectrum is in and that it’s encumbered by the federal agencies, but working with agencies to find out what they can free up would come after the fact, he said. The bidder also would compensate and pay for system improvements by the agency to assist it in freeing up the spectrum, Power said.
During a later panel, economists offered conditions necessary to allow reforms in spectrum policy, institutional reforms and other factors contributing to better federal spectrum transactions. To gain support for federal spectrum reform, the outcomes and process are important factors, said Joel Brockner, a business professor at Columbia University. When there’s a clear idea of the benefits of reform, people are “more embracing of change if they feel the process is handled well,” he said.
It’s difficult to know how agencies can do things better, said Adele Morris, a Brookings fellow and policy director. There are security difficulties and extreme coordination problems, especially with agencies sharing the same band, she said. Agencies don’t have clear property rights over their spectrum, she said. The reforms have to be in the interest of the federal agencies, she said. Agencies must be given clear technologically neutral rights to spectrum, Morris said. An updated asset balance sheet that shows the commercial value of spectrum occupied by the government can help disclose the opportunity value for that spectrum once it’s in the hands of the private sector, she added.