June 5, 2008 – Lenard Files Comments With FCC on AWS-3 Spectrum Auction, “Free” Broadband Hasn’t Worked, Represents Step Backward on Spectrum Policy.
Technology Policy Institute president and senior fellow Thomas Lenard filed comments today with the Federal Communications Commission on its proposal to auction the 2155-2175 MHz band (AWS-3) subject to rules that would require the winner to offer a basic tier of free wireless broadband service that virtually the entire U.S. population could access. The service conditions are similar to those contained in a 2006 application by M2Z to obtain this spectrum for free.
Lenard urged the Commission to abandon its plan to require the winner to provide ubiquitous free broadband service and to auction the AWS-3 spectrum under a flexible license. He said, “Past efforts to provide free broadband have not been successful and there is no reason to believe this effort will be different. Major projects have been abandoned and service providers have encountered financial difficulties trying to implement similar schemes. The proposal envisions a paid-advertising business model, which apparently has not previously been used for broadband infrastructure.”
Lenard added, “No market failure justifies the Commission’s proposal, it is likely to be unsuccessful in any event, and it represents a step backward from the market-based spectrum policy the Commission has been moving toward in recent years. Auctioning the spectrum without specifying the required uses will increase the amount bidders are willing to pay for the spectrum, reflecting its higher value to bidders, consumers, and the economy.”
Technology Policy Institute
The Technology Policy Institute is a think tank that focuses on the economics of innovation, technological change, and related regulation in the United States and around the world. Its mission is to advance knowledge and inform policymakers by producing independent, rigorous research and by sponsoring educational programs and conferences on major issues affecting information technology and communications policy. The Technology Policy Institute is a 501(c)(3) research and educational foundation.
Thomas Lenard is Senior Fellow and President Emeritus at the Technology Policy Institute. Lenard is the author or coauthor of numerous books and articles on telecommunications, electricity, antitrust, privacy, e-commerce and other regulatory issues. His publications include Net Neutrality or Net Neutering: Should Broadband Internet Services Be Regulated?; The Digital Economy Fact Book; Privacy and the Commercial Use of Personal Information; Competition, Innovation and the Microsoft Monopoly: Antitrust in the Digital Marketplace; and Deregulating Electricity: The Federal Role.
Before joining the Technology Policy Institute, Lenard was acting president, senior vice president for research and senior fellow at The Progress & Freedom Foundation. He has served in senior economics positions at the Office of Management and Budget, the Federal Trade Commission and the Council on Wage and Price Stability, and was a member of the economics faculty at the University of California, Davis. He is a past president and chairman of the board of the National Economists Club.
Lenard is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin and holds a PhD in economics from Brown University. He can be reached at [email protected]
