The House Energy and Commerce and Senate Commerce Committees each recently held hearings concerning, in part, the possibility of using the renewal of radio spectrum auction authority as a pay-for in the upcoming reconciliation bill. In a new primer, Director of Technology and Innovation Policy Jeffrey Westling explains the important considerations for lawmakers should they choose to develop a proposal for auctioning spectrum.

An excerpt:

While a clean reauthorization may seem like a straightforward option, it could actually limit the ability for the FCC to hold new auctions. This is because, in addition to the renewal of its spectrum auction authority, the FCC will need available spectrum to be sold. Currently, most spectrum is held in government hands, and merely trying to sell this without inducing those agencies to clear or share the band would produce harmful interference. As a result, if Congress were to simply reauthorize the FCC’s auction authority, it could result in 10 more years without any meaningful reallocation of spectrum to commercial use.

Read the analysis