The Federal Communications Commissions’ (FCC) new chair Tom Wheeler has said the agency is pushing back the 600 MHz auction to mid-2015. In a post on the US telecoms regulator’s website, Wheeler said the delay was due to technical issues around the…
The Federal Communications Commissions’ (FCC) new chair Tom Wheeler has said the agency is pushing back the 600 MHz auction to mid-2015.
In a post on the US telecoms regulator’s website, Wheeler said the delay was due to technical issues around the frequencies, which are owned by broadcasters, and the complex auction process.
The FCC has planned a new kind of incentive auction to reallocate frequencies from broadcasters to mobile operators. The regulator will pay broadcasters for their 6 MHz blocks of spectrum in the 600 MHz band and will ask the TV companies to propose the price.
The FCC will then repack the frequencies, so they do not interfere with other broadcasters transmissions, and auction the airwaves to wireless operators. Proceeds from this auction will fund a new public safety network and reimburse broadcasters that choose to sell their 600 MHz frequencies.
In his statement Wheeler commented: “I have often defined the complexity of this multi-part simultaneous process as being like a Rubik’s cube.”
The FCC next spectrum auction is scheduled for January when H block frequencies will be sold. Dish Network is the only large nationwide operator bidding for the airwaves.
