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Monday, August 26, 2013
FCC issues spectrum auction timeline
In the midst of the FCC's plans to auction spectrum across several bands for broadcasters and mobile data use, the military says it is now willing to give up a piece of its frequency pie.
The Department of Defense said it will compromise with wireless carriers and relocate its radio operations from a spectrum now being used for purposes such as training pilots in the Pentagon's drone program.
What that means is that the military would rearrange its systems within the 1755 to 1780 megahertz band, as well as the 2025-2110 MHz band and compress some of its programs into the 1780-1850 MHz that it would keep.
Now, the FCC will prepare for several auctions in the first restructuring of airwave ownership since 2008. FCC Chairwoman Mignon Clyburn told The Wall Street Journal that the proceedings have the potential to repurpose a significant amount of spectrum for flexible commercial use.
The first auction – which will be known as AWS3 – is expected to take place sometime in the fall of 2014.
In the meantime, the FCC continues to seek input from broadcasters and other interested parties, and is expected to issue final rules early next year.
The FCC has also released updated computer software and other technical information that it will use to repackage the channel assignments for TV broadcasters that opt to bow out of the upcoming auctions.
