WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission believes the best reason auctions should be used to allocate spectrum is not the revenue the auctions generate but rather “getting the most use out of the spectrum by focusing bidders on the available spectrum,” said Elliott Maxwell, deputy chief of the FCC’s office of plans and policy, last week during a George Washington University Workshop on Emerging Wireless Technologies.
Maxwell conceded that “on the political side, there is a view of spectrum as a revenue source.”
Focusing bidders on the available spectrum has led to increased competition, which is one of the FCC’s primary goals since it believes increased competition leads to lower prices, Maxwell said. Bidders in auctions are interested in increasing the value of spectrum by using it for more and more things, he added.
Many of the workshop participants are involved in researching ways to use the unlicensed bands in the same way the commercial bands are used, Maxwell said. He encouraged them to continue their research, saying that FCC policies to promote competition allow for maximum flexibility and encourage technical efficiency. Additionally, the FCC is more inclined to focus on the technical uses of spectrum rather than the rules for using spectrum, he said.
Focusing on technical efficiency rather than regulation likely will be well-received by congressional members with oversight responsibilities, as evidenced by statements made by Rep. Thomas Bliley (R-Va.), chairman of the House Commerce Committee, to another Washington, D.C., forum, the Stevens Institute Symposium on Telecommunications.
“I do not intend to view 21st technology through the prism of 20th century regulation,” Bliley told the Stevens Institute.
While emerging wireless technologies also may qualify for federal subsidies through the federal universal service system, Maxwell said, there is “an absence of technical support in rural America for wireless technologies.” For this reason, wireless technology developers need to think about simplicity in these systems because of the lack of technical support, he said.
