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US Wireless Spectrum Auction Raises $44.9 Billion
An anonymous reader writes: The FCC's recent wireless spectrum auction closed on Thursday, and the agency has raked in far more money than anyone expected. Sales totaled $44.89 billion, demonstrating that demand for wireless spectrum is higher than ever. The winners have not yet been disclosed, but the FCC will soon make all bidding activity public. "The money will be used to fund FirstNet, the government agency tasked with creating the nation's first interoperable broadband network for first responders, to finance technological upgrades to our 911 emergency systems, and to contribute over $20 billion to deficit reduction. In addition, the auction brought 65 Megahertz of spectrum to market to fuel our nation's mobile broadband networks. The wireless industry estimates that for every 10 Megahertz of spectrum licensed for wireless broadband, 7,000 American jobs are created and U.S. gross domestic product increases by $1.7 billion."
Who decides where the proceeds go for public airwave auctions? I would have thought it would go to the treasury to contribute paying all the bills of the government, not just an isolated project?
Harrison's Postulate - "For every action there is an equal and opposite criticism"
The wireless industry estimates that for every 10 Megahertz of spectrum licensed for wireless broadband, 7,000 American jobs are created and U.S. gross domestic product increases by $1.7 billion
I estimate that for every million dollars I receive, I create 8,000 American jobs and increase gross domestic product by $3 billion. They should talk to me before spending all the money they got from this auction.
And more importantly, this correlates to a 5% increase in executive compensation, and a 2% increase in the hookers and cocaine fund.
This will also increase the pool for bribing politicians by an additional 1.5%, ensuring the best opportunities to purchase favorable legislation.
CEOs are said to be pleased with the forecasted pillaging of the American public, and look forward to raising your rates and finding new and creative ways to give you less for your money, while optimizing long-term executive compensation.
Suckers.
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
The wireless industry estimates that for every 10 Megahertz of spectrum licensed for wireless broadband, 7,000 American jobs are created and U.S. gross domestic product increases by $1.7 billion."
Yes, of course they do. That's a nice press release for both the wireless industry, and the politicians they paid for.
"The money will be used to fund FirstNet, the government agency tasked with creating the nation's first interoperable broadband network..."
You could just as well put the money in a pile and burn it. Heck, given the inevitable follow-on costs, burning it would be cheaper...
"...contribute over $20 billion to deficit reduction". Meaning it's going into the general fund, where it will be promptly spent three or four times over, each time with the justification that the expenditure has already been paid for by the wireless auction.
Enjoy life! This is not a dress rehearsal.
Yellow everybody. Let's hope those who lost out in this auction aren't feeling blue about it. It'd be understandable to be green with envy, sure, but I hope no-one's seeing red, because the last thing we want is for things to turn violet. Orange you glad this hasn't happened? Best just to heave a cy-an move on.
systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
$45 Billion? True, this is the amount raised. All of it has been paid to Uncle Sam.
The same amount of $45 Billion is also telecomunication companies' best estimate, a modelled amount, equal to the net present value of all their clients' prospective fees, less their expenses, to be collected in the future.
If a customer would ever ask a question, why his wireless service bill is so high, he would be given an answer that the bill includes amortization of $45 Billion of previously capitalized expenses, which companies had to pay.
The GDP increase by $1.7 B is merely an additional tax, that the parties will need to pay, and represents increase in prices that the customers will sooner or later pay.
As spectrum is a finite resource, why sell it, instead of rent it? It goes up in value each year, so the stuff we sold years ago is now worth MUCH more than we sold it for.
And, since the frequencies are owned by the general public, why the transfer to private corporations, who then hide income offshore? Heck, if the feds put up cell towers and little buildings to house the radios, they could easily earn enough money to fund the government's basic needs for MANY years to come.
Yes, we should give that obviously highly valuable wireless spectrum to cell phone companies for free! Because they will pass those savings directly to us, and not horde the profits for themselves!
The space between 100 MHz and 165 MHz would constitute 65 MHz of spectrum. So would the space between 1 GHz and 1.065 GHz, or 1 KHz and 65.001 MHz.
According to this US government source, this auction was for 1695-1710 MHz, 1755-1780 MHz and 2155-2180 MHz -- a 15 MHz band and two 25-MHz bands, totaling 65 MHz.
To a first approximation, 65MHz of spectrum gives you a fixed amount of capacity, regardless of its start and end points.
And how do you pay for the "IP" part of that "VoIP" if you don't have a job? It makes 10000x more sense to keep a prepaid cell phone than home internet access when you're unemployed. You can also go to the library for internet access, or to apply for jobs, etc., but if you're contacted by a recruiter you need to pick up the phone whether you're at the shelter getting dinner, or at the library, or in the bathroom.
It doesn't hurt to be nice.
Because the Alaska Permanent Fund takes a small amount of revenue from the oil recovery fees and puts it in a managed fund whose interest is dispersed to the couple of hundred thousand humans left in this mosquito infested swamp. It has a total capitalization of about 45 billion dollars, roughly the same as the spectrum sales.
However, Alaska's population is roughly 735,000, the US 316,000,000. Assuming the same long term returns, the average US citizen would get about $1.80 per year. On a good year.
Disbursement of government money to the masses doesn't really do much. It is arguably different in Alaska since outside the 'big' cities, a significant fraction of the population is at a subsistence level and the close to $1000 we get each year makes a big difference. But many people have argued that the fund would do better if it were more intelligently managed. Of course, that term is defined differently by different people,
Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!