Incentive Auctions Are Only Part of the Spectrum Solution

The House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Communications and Technology held a hearing today on “Keeping the New Broadband Spectrum Law on Track.” The following statement can be attributed to Berin Szoka , TechFreedom President, and Matthew Starr , TechFreedom Legal Fellow:

Consumers need a lot more spectrum. Incentive auctions will help, but probably not as much as many in Washington believe. We need an “all of the above” approach. Most importantly, we need to give government agencies incentives to make more efficient use of their spectrum, as Commissioner Rosenworcel rightly noted . Consumers can’t wait for the FCC’s Spectrum Three-Step: clear, relocate and auction. Rather than a regulatory slow dance, we need a tango of more dynamic policies to make more spectrum available to the private sector as quickly as possible.

Szoka and Starr are available for comment at media@techfreedom.org .