If The DOD Wants Ligado’s Spectrum, It Should Buy It

If The DOD Wants Ligado’s Spectrum, It Should Buy It

WASHINGTON (JUNE 3, 2020) – In an op-ed published in Law360, TPI Senior Fellow and President Emeritus Tom Lenard and NYU Stern School of Business Professor of Economics Larry White argue that the FCC’s decision to allow Ligado Networks to build and operate 5G infrastructure in its licensed spectrum is appropriate and efficient. Lenard and White further suggest that a more efficient spectrum allocation program would have avoided the years of difficulties in making that licensed spectrum available for innovative uses.

“The long delay in using the Ligado spectrum productively can ultimately be traced to the original sin: the FCC’s legacy command-and-control regime, which despite progress towards a market-based approach for spectrum use, is still alive and well,” they write. “The license could not be modified to permit other uses unless the FCC gave its consent, which took a decade — and the DOD is still trying to derail it.”

To read the full op-ed, visit the link here.

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