Rob McDowell: Federal Spectrum Auction Bill Teed Up

Rob McDowell, a former commissioner with the Federal Communications Commission, says to look for senior members of the Commerce Committees in both Houses of Congress to introduce legislation, perhaps by the end of September, on freeing up government spectrum for auction. McDowell is currently a partner at Wiley Rein, which has a number of wireless clients, but he pushed for freeing up more government spectrum as a commissioner as well. He said that helping "put the wind in the sales" of a government spectrum bill was the recent AWS-3 auction, which raked in an "eye-popping" almost $45 billion. The legislation would identify spectrum to reclaim and likely provide for unlicensed use, as well as set time frames for that to happen.