Matsui Wants Government Incentive Spectrum Auction

Rep. Doris Matsui (D-Calif.) said Thursday she would be introducing in this Congress a bill that would create the first-ever incentive spectrum auction for government agencies.

She announced the bill at an FCC oversight hearing in the House Communications Subcommittee, saying the FCC should turn its focus to spectrum issues now that it has voted on new open Internet rules.

Currently, the Obama Administration is looking for ways to help government spectrum users share more spectrum, but clearing and auctioning remains on the table as well.

The AWS-3 auction, which raised over $40 billion,  included some former government spectrum

The broadcast incentive spectrum auction is expected to free up as much as 125 mHz for wireless broadband.

John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.