The second panel discussion presented by The Media Access Project (MAP) “Innovation 08” was called “Spectrum Policy After the 700 MHz Auction”. In case someone missed it earlier this year, here is a nut shell summary of the 700 MHz auction: The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) 700 MHz spectrum auction took 38 days and 261 rounds and raised $19.592 billion (USD) for the U.S. treasury. That many greenbacks is a record for an FCC-run auction and nearly double the high mark of some pre-auction estimates by the all-knowing pundits.

Last year, Google said it would bid about $4 billion for a chunk of the C Block, 700 MHZ spectrum. Big G did make that offer, but AT&T and Verizon ponied up many more greenbacks and won the majority of the C Block's contiguous, nation-wide spectrum allocation. Some groups felt the C Block auction was structured so only the large telecoms could win.

Then there was the ill conceived and poorly executed D Block, 700 MHz auction. That chunk of spectrum didn't make minimum bid, in part because some of the stipulations were not considered economically feasible by many of the potential bidders. There is the saga of Public Safety Spectrum Trust (PSST), who was the sole bidder getting a loan from their “advisory assistant” Cyren Call. After much vetting by nearly everyone inside the beltway (Washington, DC) the FCC decided to take another shot at auctioning the D Block.

The second Media Access Project panel brought together Coleman Bazelon, a regulatory analyst; Gregory Rose, an economist; Carolyn Brandon, CTIA's vice president of policy; Joanne Hovis, a technology planner for public agencies; Marc Berejka, senior director of public policy at Microsoft; and the Moderator, Harold Feld, vice-president of MAP.

From left to right: Analyst Coleman Bazelon, economist Gregory Rose, Media Access Project's Harold Feld, CTIA's Carolyn Brandon, Columbia Telecommunications' Joanne Hovis, Microsoft's Marc Berejka


There were several discussions about whether spectrum should be licensed or not. The issue of what value does spectrum have was often brought up. Bazelon and Rose came down on the side of establishing a monetary value for spectrum. Rose added that the social value of spectrum is often left out: e.g. the greater good for the community. That put him partially into the unlicensed camp.

Brandon added a lot of statistical information on how many independent ISPs there are, and how much unused and unlicensed spectrum government agencies in the U.S. are sitting on (about 1700 MHz). She said CTIA favors licensed spectrum and selling it through auctions.

Hovis advocated unlicensed spectrum and local control of it. She said the municipal wireless and municipal fiber movements indicate the public wants more control and faster action from the FCC.

“White space” was designed to prevent interference by separating anything else from operating near broadcast spectrum (i.e. DHD-TV). Berejka from Microsoft seemed to have a single theme all during the panel: unlicensed use of the white space in the 700 MHz spectrum between existing TV channels. To which Brandon said: 'We don't think white spaces should be given away for free.” Microsoft has had two failed FCC technology demonstrations of their efforts. Perhaps, if their engineering staff was as motivated as Berejka then they would show the FCC a better prototype.

Rose then asked for the federal government to build out the 700 MHz D Block and lease the excess capacity for municipal use. He did not discuss how this idea would be funded, nor who would be the losers if that happened. Bazelon said he favoured another auction of the D Block and “if we don't license (white space) and put it into the hands of companies that will invest in infrastructure to develop (it), it's going to be wasted.'

Finally, the audience was invited to question the panelists. Ron Yokubatis, one of the earlier panel members, asked an excellent question: “What do we do to create garage inventors?” He explained how unlicensed spectrum with few regulations got him involved as a youngster in ham radio communications. All the panel members said they supported regulations which had a low threshold of entry. Again, Berejka from Microsoft, started promoting his corporation's white space ideas.

During the panel, everyone seemed to be addressing the philosophical upper strata and not the meat-and-potatoes of who was going to stand up to large telecom providers that often squeeze out small start-ups and their ideas. X