FCC Announces Excellence in Economics, Engineering Award Winners

The Federal Communications Commission announced the winners of the Excellence in Economic Analysis (EEA) and Excellence in Engineering Analysis (EIE) Awards. These awards are intended to recognize Commission staff for outstanding economic analysis, and engineering, scientific or technical contributions that they have performed in the course of their work at the FCC.

• Octavian Carare and Jay Schwarz of the Wireline Competition Bureau share the 2014 EEA Award for their joint paper “The Willingness to Pay for Broadband of Non-Adopters in the US: Estimates from a Multi-State Survey.” The paper concludes that up to 10 million households in the US for which broadband is currently available might be willing to subscribe if a subscription discount is offered and that a 15% reduction in price would lead to a 9% increase in adoption.
• Janet Young of the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau is the winner of the 2014 Excellence in Engineering Analysis Award. Ms. Young, the sole FCC member of the first Technical Panel created under the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012, provided significant engineering analyses that shortened the transition timelines of Federal incumbents that will relocate or implement sharing arrangements with commercial licensees in two frequency bands that are part of the “AWS-3” spectrum. Her work will allow for faster deployment of new commercial services in this spectrum, which is scheduled for auction November 13, 2014.