Decades of advances in wireless technologies have created new uses for the limited space on the radio spectrum. These advances have led to growing demand for wireless communications, requiring reallocation of spectrum bands to more efficient commercial uses. In a new insight, Director of Technology and Innovation Policy Nick Krosse reviews spectrum auctions and why they remain the most streamlined way to assign licensed spectrum, as well as options to address barriers to reallocating spectrum for commercial use.

Key points:

• The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) uses auctions to assign licensed spectrum to the highest bidder, a more efficient method than prior processes, and one that enables faster assignment and deployment of licensed spectrum.
• Auctions can take months or years to prepare, however, particularly when federal agencies must coordinate the reallocation of federal spectrum for commercial use.
• While Congress tasked the FCC and National Telecommunications and Information Administration with developing a pipeline for reallocating large bands of federal spectrum for licensed commercial use in the next few years, coordination bottlenecks threaten these deadlines; several short- and long-term reform options exist for addressing delays and getting federal spectrum to commercial use faster.

Read the analysis.