How Spectrum Sales Went Sour
from the supply-and-demand dept
A pretty good summary of exactly how the FCC ended up auctioning off spectrum to various companies. Obviously, a lot of the article focuses on the disastorous NextWave auction (and the associated lawsuits, spectrum reclaiming, and reauctioning). Basically, it sounds like both sides screwed up. NextWave definitely overbid for their spectrum. The FCC’s installment plan payment system was a bad idea – as was the plan to release much more spectrum on the market so soon after the NextWave auction, as that decreased prices (and the demand for NextWave’s spectrum).
