Legislators Put $5 Million Bounty On Spectrum Efficiency

Rep Doris Matsui (D-CA) and Sen Tom Udall (D-NM) have introduced a bill that would promote greater spectrum efficiency by paying up to $5 million for a breakthrough wireless technologies. They pointed out in introducing the Spectrum Challenge Prize Act Tuesday Dec 8 that rather than pay for R&D that may not pan out, a challenge prize only rewards success.

A Hill-passed budget bill already includes legislation to spur a government auction of reclaimed spectrum, but the new bill would target the other side of the equation, being more efficient with the spectrum government agencies still hold on to. "The spectrum challenge competition would help incentivize innovators and entrepreneurs to develop technologies that eclipse the current state-of-the-art," they said. The bill would "instruct the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), in consultation with other federal partners, to award up to $5 million in prizes to participants who develop ground-breaking solutions to spectrum efficiency."