House members urge Wheeler to conduct open auction

For the auction to be a success,  the members said, both spectrum-selling broadcasters and buyers needed to be motivated. As the letter says:

On April 11, 78 members of the U.S. House of Representatives sent a letter to FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler urging him to maximize  the upcoming spectrum auction.

For the auction to be a success,  the members said, both spectrum-selling broadcasters and buyers needed to be motivated. As the letter says:

“… inviting as many bidders as possible to compete in an open and fair auction on equal terms will allow for the full market price for spectrum  to be realized and, in tum, lead to higher compensation  to incent greater broadcaster participation resulting in more spectrum for the auction.”

The bipartisan group of representatives cited the Cisco survey, which Speed Matters blogged recently, indicating “… that American demand for mobile broadband will increase by eight-fold over the next five years.”

The spectrum provisions are part of the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012 which includes building a public safety network, to increase mobile spectrum and to reduce the national debt. To accomplish this, said the letter’s authors, “Private investment in hardware innovation, mobile application development, and wireless network infrastructure is one of the most promising sources of short and long-term economic growth for our country.”

Speed Matters supports an open auction. 

House letter to Tom Wheeler (Apr. 11, 2014)

U.S. remains world leader in mobile traffic, says Cisco (Speed Matters, Apr. 3, 2014)