WASHINGTON-The Government Accountability Office is recommending that Congress extend the Federal Communications Commission’s auction authority past its current expiration date of Sept. 30, 2007.
GAO, the auditing arm of Congress, examined the spectrum allocation and licensing process. The paper is a follow-up to a 2003 report.
Auctions are “quicker, less costly, and more transparent,” according to the GAO report.
To date, the FCC has held 59 auctions for more than 56,000 licenses to select between competing applications for the same license, and generated more than $14.5 billion for the U.S. Treasury.
The Office of Management & Budget said auctions have mitigated problems associated with comparative hearings and lotteries and noted that the Bush administration supports the permanent extension of FCC’s auction authority, according to agency comments included in the GAO report. In addition, OMB said the Bush administration has proposed allowing the FCC to use economic mechanisms-lease fees-to promote efficient spectrum use.
Meanwhile, the GAO underscored a major concern in the wireless industry: that spectrum is unavailable, and the spectrum that has been assigned is not being used efficiently. “Nearly all parties are becoming increasingly concerned about the availability of spectrum for future needs, because most of the usable spectrum in the United States has already been allocated to existing services and users. These concerns are compounded by evidence that some of the spectrum is currently underutilized,” said the GAO.
Spectrum should be allocated using a balance of “exclusive, flexible rights” and “open access or commons,” an expert panel told GAO.
“While little consensus exists about fully adopting either alternative model, FCC staff, as well as many stakeholders and panelists on our expert panel, recommend a balanced approach that would combine elements of the current process and the two alternative models,” said the GAO.
Today, spectrum is allocated in a command-and-control fashion, but the FCC has been attempting to allow license holders more flexibility to use their spectrum how they best see fit as long as they do not cause harmful interference to other license holders.