Washington rarely discovers an economic policy that promotes investment, strengthens national security, improves services for consumers and raises billions of dollars for the Treasury without imposing a new tax.Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr’s newly announced "super band" spectrum auction manages to do all four.Spectrum may be invisible, but it is among the most valuable resources in the modern economy.
It carries phone calls, financial transactions, emergency communications, industrial data, streaming video and the growing volume of information moving between connected devices.The FCC has moved to auction 160 megahertz of the Upper C-band — the valuable mid-band airwaves that provide the combination of speed, capacity and geographic reach required by modern wireless networks.AMAZON LEO SATELLITE INTERNET TAKES ON STARLINKCongress directed the commission to make at least 100 megahertz available.The FCC went further, adding another 60 megahertz and combining it with spectrum cleared in 2020.
The result will be a contiguous block of more than 400 megahertz, creating one of the most commercially useful bands of wireless spectrum in the world.This will be the first major federal spectrum auction in five years.The commission also moved from a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to a final order faster than it has in any comparable proceeding during the 5G era.That urgency is welcome.STEVE FORBES: REGULATORS RISK DESTROYING LOCAL TV BY BLOCKING KEY MEDIA MERGERKeeping usable spectrum idle — or trapped in inefficient government allocations — has real costs.
Networks aren’t built.Jobs aren’t created.
New services don’t reach consumers.American companies lose ground to foreign competitors.Auctions offer the quintessentially American solution: Free up and use markets.A properly designed auction gets spectrum to companies that value it most and are prepared to put it to productive use.
It establishes clear, enforceable rights.It encourage...