** Please note: Reed Hundt’s prepared remarks and panelist presentations are available to view on the right side of this page under 'Event Materials'.**
Hosted by the Wireless Innovation Alliance and the New America Foundation:
Spectrum Auctions and Super Wi-Fi: A Win-Win for Consumers and Taxpayers
Central to America's wireless future is the need to increase spectrum capacity, both licensed and unlicensed. However, as the Payroll Tax Extenders bill continues to be debated in Congress, unlicensed spectrum could be on the chopping block despite it's $30 to $50 billion annual contribution to consumer welfare and a growing number of industries.
This forum provided a briefing by U.S. Senators, a former FCC Chairman and a panel of spectrum experts who are leading the fight to preserve unlicensed spectrum and, more broadly, flexibility for the expert agency (the FCC) to conduct auctions and reorganize the airwaves in the public interest.
Our panelists released new studies and discussed trials showing the mushrooming value of unlicensed spectrum to the innovation economy as well as the importance of preserving FCC flexibility.
Distinguished Speakers
Senator John Kerry (D-MA)
Senator Jerry Moran (R-KS)
Reed Hundt, Former FCC Chairman (1993-1997)
Panel of Experts
Rusty Irvin
Chief Executive Officer
StratusWave Communications (West Virginia)
Yochai Benkler
Berkman Professor of Entrepreneurial Legal Studies
Harvard University
Mark Cooper
Director of Research
Consumer Federation of America
James Assey
Senior Vice President
National Cable & Telecommunications Assn (NCTA)
Peter Stanforth
Chief Technology Officer
Spectrum Bridge
Moderator
Michael Calabrese
Senior Research Fellow, Open Technology Initiative
New America Foundation
