WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission this week is expected to unveil a new plan to auction $3 billion of spectrum for wireless Internet access and other applications, according to officials.
Bidding is set to begin next spring.
MCI Communications Corp. and Microsoft Corp., according to a published report, are interested in buying spectrum for wireless Internet access.
MCI played down the trade publication story, which quoted one industry expert as saying the new spectrum works better than cellular channels for high-speed data transmission.
Congress, before adjourning, agreed to put the 2305-2320 MHz and the 2345-2360 MHz bands on the auction block to help pay for $6.5 billion in domestic programs of the Clinton administration.
It is precisely the kind of spectrum-related action that increasingly angers lawmakers with telecommunications policy oversight. House Commerce Committee Chairman Thomas Bliley (R-Va.) and John Dingell (D-Mich.), ranking minority member of the panel, fired off an angry letter to the House leadership before Congress left town on why spectrum policy should not be budget-driven.
In the Senate, Commerce Committee Chairman Larry Pressler (R-S.D.) and Ernest Hollings (D-S.C.) screamed bloody murder to their leadership in reaction to the steady stream of spectrum-funded policy initiatives by congressional and administration budget writers who lack telecom policy expertise.
The 2.3 GHz spectrum originally was part of an allocation earmarked for satellite-based digital audio radio service. Canadian frequency coordination problems and the White House’s need for money disengaged that 30 megahertz from DARS, while leaving some spectrum for the new service, and freed it up for auction.
The FCC is expected to propose liberal bidding eligibility criteria and other auction licensing guidelines, according to officials.
The FCC’s auction program has raised nearly $20 billion since Congress authorized competitive bidding in 1993, most of it from the sale of broadband personal communications services licenses.
Interest from down payments in the C-block PCS auction and subsequent auctions go toward a new telecommunications development fund that Congress created in the 1996 telecom act to help small businesses, including those owned by women and minorities, gain access to capital.
In addition, auctions have enabled the FCC to introduce new competition in the paging and pocket telephone markets in a relatively short period of time.
In contrast, specialized mobile radio auctions may decrease competition.
Whether firms that paid millions-even billions-of dollars for wireless licenses can survive the financial strain of auctions and increased competitive pressures has not been answered.
The FCC also is working on auction rules for 800 MHz SMR, 220 MHz, local 900 MHz paging and general wireless service at higher frequencies.
