Enacting More "Sticks": Spectrum Fees for Government Users

There are many means to reduce the Federal government's spectrum allotment. Statutorily forcing agencies to relocate to other bands remains the most effective way, but this requires strong leadership, is usually a one-time event focusing on specific frequencies and can run into political storms. Others advocate for new incentives that provide agencies funding to voluntarily surrender valuable bands, but this too has drawbacks as the "carrots" needed to achieve success can exceed rationality and may only be effective in narrow circumstances. Further, it is unclear whether such incentives would change the behavior of individual agencies to use their spectrum more prudently.

The benefit of Agency Spectrum Fees (ASF) is that they can function as a more nuanced "stick" approach that continually generates, if operated correctly, spectrum efficiencies. More importantly, it is not an either/or situation: they can work as an individual solution or be part of a multi-layered approach.