A brief study of Incentive auction practices in Telecom and Broadcasting practised in the USA.

1. Incentive Auctions
Kotha Tejas Shreyas Gupta Ayush Saraswat Ravi Jain
• Re-allocation of spectrum from lower value over-the-air
television and satellite services to more highly valued
general mobile wireless services.
Spectrum Re-allocation
• Easing congestion in consumer wireless networks
• Laying the groundwork for 5G networks
Why we need Spectrum Re-allocation
The incentive auction itself will comprise two separate but
interdependent auctions -- a reverse auction, and a forward
auction.
Repacking involves reorganizing and assigning channels to the
remaining broadcast television stations in order to create
contiguous blocks of cleared spectrum suitable for flexible use.
Incentive Auctions
• Incentive auction - Reverse auction (Auction 1001) +
repacking of frequency bands + forward auction (Auction
1002)
• Reverse auction (Procurement auction, sourcing auction) -
Broadcasters voluntarily give up their licenses and rights for
a price in a descending VCG auction.
• Forward auction - selling these new repurposed licenses to
mobile broadband service providers.
Reverse and Forward Auction Re-allocation
First approved with the help of the Middle class tax relief and
Job creation act of 2012 (The Spectrum Act)
Details of the first incentive auction
1. proposed and authorised by congress in 2012.
2. conducted for the first time in 2016.
3. from March 29, 2016 to March 30, 2017
4. reallocated 84MHz of spectrum, 70MHz licensed and rest is
for unlicensed use.
5. 7B$ for government treasury
6. Goal to get back most of the 600MHz band from television
broadcasting. Remaining channels will be relocated to lower
UHF and VHF bands.
Final Stage Rule
Opposition and Alternatives
Broadcasters wanting to get a bigger cut of the revenue
government makes from the auctions. Many broadcasters said
they spent a lot of money in digital upgrades which they wanted
to recoup back.
Overlay Rights:
Overlay licenses grant auction winners the right to use only
unoccupied spectrum adjacent to an incumbent system in the
band and exclusive rights to bargain with those existing users