On the Road to the Incentive Auction

Spectrum is the foundation for wireless and mobile services that Americans use every day and its value has increased substantially in recent years. The Federal Communications Commission assigns valuable licenses for wireless spectrum through auctions. A recent FCC auction raised approximately $40 billion.

The FCC is on track to launch the first-ever incentive auction of spectrum early next year. Incentive auctions encourage licensees to voluntarily relinquish spectrum usage rights in exchange for a share of the proceeds from the auction of new licenses for the repurposed spectrum.

On Monday, June 29th, Howard Symons, Vice Chair of the Commission’s Incentive Auction Task Force, discussed the status of the auction proceedings and outline the steps the FCC will take during 2015 to prepare for the auction. Harold Furchtgott-Roth, Hudson Institute Senior Fellow and former FCC Commissioner, moderated the discussion.