All five members of the Federal Communications Commission appeared before Congress Tuesday (witness list) to testify about what went wrong with a key aspect of the agency’s recently completed 700MHz spectrum auction, and to hear lawmakers’ views of what to do next.
Kevin Martin, the commission’s Republican chairman, was credited by lawmakers for the fact the March auction raised more than $19 billion, but was criticized by members of his own party on the House panel for imposing conditions which may have decreased the value of the lucrative commodity.
Meanwhile, Democrats, including Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass., the subcommittee chairman, asked tough questions about what the FCC intended to do now with the unsold D Block section of the spectrum.
Democratic lawmakers also said they were disappointed by the fact that large incumbent players in the wireless industry were the big winners in the auction, rather than a new competitor in that marketplace.
The swath of unsold spectrum would have given the winner a nationwide license for joint public safety/commercial use.
The hope was the country’s first responders’ inability to communicate effectively in times of crisis could be resolved without a significant outlay of public funds. That inability was clearly shown during the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, and in the wake of Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
Despite the fact that no company came forward to bid for the spectrum, both Markey and Martin said they believed the public-private partnership envisaged by the D-Block, was the best option available.
Some Republican members on the committee said they believed the 10 megahertz of spectrum should be sold off to the commercial wireless industry, and part of the proceeds then given to public safety.
Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich, the chairman of the overarching House Commerce Committee said he disagreed with this solution.
“I am presently unmoved by suggestions that we should simply auction the 10 megahertz D-Block for purely commercial use and hand the proceeds to public safety,” Dingell said at the hearing.
In total, 62 megahertz of radio spectrum was put up for auction. The $19 billion raised earlier this year was the highest total ever in the 15-year history of FCC spectrum auctions. It was widely seen as the last chance for a new entrant to the wireless industry to acquire significant amounts of spectrum.
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