This article, in its original German, was printed in Multi-Media-Recht. In it Dr. Spies summarizes the recent news on the upcoming 700 MHz auction at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). This spectrum, to be auctioned in early 2008, is beachfront property for many broadband applications. There is a lot of potential demand for these bands that so far have been used for analogue TV. The total bids may well exceed US$15 billion. Dr. Spies describes the different bands, in particular, the bands that are reserved for wireless emergency services. He also discusses the roll-out requirements for new services in these bands and describes how the auction concept fits into the so-called "open access" concept for spectrum, which requires operators not to discriminate users who want to use various or different end user devices.
This article was originally published by Bingham McCutchen LLP.