FCC to vote on incentive auction proposal, may spark competition for open broadband

Officials of the US Federal Communications Commission had said on Friday that it will be reserving a substantial portion of its spectrum in its upcoming television ban auctions for unlicensed uses like Wi-Fi. The FCC will be voting on a plan in order to conduct an intricate two-sided spectrum auction scheduled on May 15, the officials added. They also shared that the agency will be reserving about 18MHZ to 26MHZ of spectrum in the 600MHZ band for unlicensed wireless uses. The amount would reportedly depend on the number of television stations who will participate in the auction.

PCWorld said this means that the television stations who will be participating in the auction will have the choice of changing channels, share spectrum with other stations or discontinue over-the-air broadcasts. This news reportedly got the National Association of Broadcasters concerned, as the auction could lead to the possibility of television end-users losing coverage.

In a blog post on Friday, FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler wrote that the spectrum auction is the first the agency has done worldwide, and it is important for FCC to make it work. he emphasized that the auction will have an impact on broadband competition in rural areas.

"The incentive auction is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to expand the benefits of mobile wireless coverage and competition to consumers across the nation-particularly consumers in rural areas-offering more choices of wireless providers, lower prices, and higher quality mobile services," Wheeler said in the post.

Wheeler also cited that another reason the spectrum auction is to be done is to address the unfair spectrum assignments.

FCC said that the incentive auction is expected to occur in the middle of next year. One part of the auction will be a reverse auction, wherein television stations will have to compete with each other to be paid for their spectrum. PCWorld said this portion will set the prices at which television stations are willing to give up their spectrum and the amount of available spectrum that will be made available in the forward aucton.

Tags

US Federal Communications Commission, National Association of Broadcasters, incentive spectrum auction

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