FCC Moves Ahead With Plans to Unleash Spectrum

The Federal Communications Commission is moving ahead with plans to auction off broadcast spectrum to bandwidth-hungry wireless carriers, but as details released today indicate, the road to the actual 2015 auction will be a complex undertaking.

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler this week circulated a report and order (R&O) to his fellow commissioners, which outlines how he'd like things to proceed. It sets some ground rules on four points: re-organizing the 600MHz band so it's ready for auction; detailing how the auction will actually work; the post-auction transition; and regulatory issues that will crop up when the auction closes.

The early details are rather technical, but in terms of how the auction will work, the FCC must first have broadcasters voluntarily offer up their unused spectrum in what is called a reverse auction. These broadcasters need to decide if they're going to give up everything, take the money, and go off the air or only sell off a portion of their spectrum while remaining on the air.

"Participation in the Incentive Auction does not mean they have to leave the TV business," Wheeler said in a blog post. "New channel-sharing technologies offer broadcasters a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for an infusion of cash to expand their business model and explore new innovations, while continuing to provide their traditional services to consumers."

At this point, the FCC doesn't know how many broadcasters will actually be selling their spectrum. But it will hopefully be enough to satisfy the carriers that want to snap it up. Once broadcasters have offered up their spectrum, the FCC will auction it off to carriers in what is known as a forward auction.

Finally, when everyone has bought and sold the spectrum they want, the "repacking" process begins - or assigning channels to the broadcast stations that opted to stay on the air.

The FCC commissioners are scheduled to vote on this report at their April 23 monthly meeting. But it's just a jumping off point and more details will emerge in the coming months, bolstered by public comment periods.

And while the topic of spectrum can seem rather boring, it's actually quite important if you want your smartphones and tablets to run Netflix, Skype, or other bandwidth-heavy apps without buffering or pixelated screens. Gadgets makers and carriers have successfully convinced millions of consumers to buy their latest and greatest devices and service plans, but there is a finite amount of spectrum, so carriers will need even more in the years ahead to make our favorite devices run smoothly.

"Twenty-first century consumers in both rural and urban areas of our country have a seemingly insatiable appetite for wireless services, and thus, for spectrum," Chairman Wheeler said today.

The auction has already had one bit of controversy. AT&T said that it might withdraw if the FCC imposes rules on the proceedings that make it difficult for AT&T to secure the spectrum it wants.