"Incentive" spectrum auctions take another step forward

The NY Times reports on today's events in Washington: F.C.C. Backs Proposal to Realign Airwaves

"WASHINGTON — The government took a big step on Friday to aid the creation of new high-speed wireless Internet networks that could fuel the development of the next generation of smartphones and tablets, and devices that haven’t even been thought of yet.

"The five-member Federal Communications Commission unanimously approved a sweeping, though preliminary, proposal to reclaim public airwaves now used for broadcast television and auction them off for use in wireless broadband networks, with a portion of the proceeds paid to the broadcasters.

"The initiative, which the F.C.C. said would be the first in which any government would pay to reclaim public airwaves with the intention of selling them, would help satisfy what many industry experts say is booming demand for wireless Internet capacity."
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Paul Milgrom is leading an impressive group of auction designers in the novel technical aspects of this effort.

Should radio spectrum be rented instead of sold?

Some thoughts on the market for radio spectrum (i.e. for how it should be licensed and sold): Presidential Panel Urges More Flexible Use of Spectrum.

"A just-completed report from a presidential advisory committee urges President Obama to adopt new computer technologies to make better use of a huge swath of the radio spectrum now controlled by federal agencies.

"The shift, which could be accomplished by presidential signature — and without Congressional involvement — would relieve spectrum congestion caused by the popularity of smartphones, and generate far more revenue for the federal government than auctioning spectrum to wireless carriers, according to the authors of the report.

"The new plan, which calls on the government to electronically rent or lease spectrum for periods of time as short as seconds using newly available computerized radio technologies, was presented publicly Friday to a meeting of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, or PCAST.

"The authors of the report included Eric E. Schmidt, the chairman of Google, Craig Mundie, Microsoft’s chief research and strategy officer and Silicon Valley venture capitalists Mark P. Gorenberg and David E. Liddle, among others. The report is scheduled to be presented to the president in June after final editing."

Market design for radio spectrum: new NSF program

Here's an   announcement that recently went out from the National Science Foundation:

"Dear Colleagues,

"I am writing to you today because of a just published NSF solicitation with the title “Enhancing Access to the Radio Spectrum (EARS)” [and a submission deadline of June 14, 2012]. The complete solicitation can be found here: http://www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id=503480 .

"The synopsis reads:

“The National Science Foundation's Directorates for Mathematical and Physical Sciences (MPS), Engineering (ENG), Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE), and Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences (SBE) are coordinating efforts to identify bold new concepts with the potential to contribute to significant improvements in the efficiency of radio spectrum utilization, and in the ability for traditionally underserved Americans to benefit from current and future wireless-enabled goods and services. EARS seeks to fund innovative collaborative research that transcends the traditional boundaries of existing programs, such as research that spans disciplines covered by two or more of the participating NSF directorates.”

"A number of economists participated in an EARS Workshop here at the NSF in 2010. The final workshop-report can be found at: http://www.nsf.gov/mps/ast/nsf_ears_workshop_2010_final_report.pdf .

"It is my hope that you could spread the word among potentially interested social scientists who may want to submit an interdisciplinary proposal that has social science as its central component.

"According to the solicitation:

“The key research areas of interest to the EARS program include, but are not limited to, those that impact a wide range of technologies, applications, and users. Some broad examples and general topic areas include, but are not limited to:”

...

-       " Security of wireless signals and systems in the context of spectrum sharing.

-        ...

-      " Economic models for spectrum resource sharing. There exists a need for interdisciplinary research in the areas of market and non-market-based mechanisms for spectrum access and usage to efficiently organize the sharing of scarce spectrum resources. Examples of research themes include, but are not limited to, real-time auctions, market design, spectrum valuation, spectrum management for the home user and managing mixed-rights spectrum.

-        New and novel measurement-based spectrum management techniques, including agent-based systems, policy-based spectrum management, local and scalable spectrum management.”

"I would be thankful if you could forward information about the solicitation to other potentially interested researcher.

"Please feel free to send us any suggestions you may have to ensure that Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences will be prominently represented among the EARS proposal submissions."

Michael Reksulak, Ph.D.

Program Director, Economics

National Science Foundation

4201 Wilson Boulevard, Suite 995

Arlington, VA  22230

mreksula@nsf.gov

FCC incentive auctions

Here's a good way to begin to design an auction: FCC hires top economists

"As the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) moves to implement its new authority to sell valuable radio spectrum via incentive auctions, it is seeking advice from a group of economists with expertise in auction design and competition policy.

"The commission has retained a group of prize-winning economists led by Paul Milgrom, the Ely Professor of Humanities and Sciences at Stanford University. Milgrom, who is considered one of the foremost thinkers in auction theory and design, helped the FCC create its first spectrum auctions — which have served as a blueprint for similar auctions around the world.

"Milgrom will be assisted by Professors Jonathan Levin and Ilya Segal, also of Stanford. Levin chairs the university's economics department, and is a winner of the prestigious John Bates Clark medal, an award for young economists whose winners often go on to win the Nobel Prize in economics. Segal is a recipient of the Compass-Lexecon prize, which is awarded to significant contributors to the understanding and implementation of competition policy.

"The Stanford professors will be joined by Washington, D.C., based Lawrence Ausubel, an auction design expert who teaches at the University of Maryland."