“This is a big deal.” With those words, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski introduced the FCC’s latest initiative to develop a wireless information superhighway for US businesses and consumers. The Commissioners voted 5-0 to propose a system that would encourage U.S. television broadcasters to turn in their spectrum licenses in exchange for a portion of the proceeds […]
On June 12, the Brazilian regulator, Anatel, conducted its first 4G spectrum auction, selling spectrum in the 2500MHz band. By far the most valuable spectrum licenses sold in this auction were the paired bands optimized for use with LTE-FDD. These bands, however, were packaged with obligations to supply service to rural populations, using the 450MHz […]
Two big spectrum auctions in India and Germany ended this week. The 3G auction in India yielded nearly US$15 billion for the Indian treasury for about 40MHz of bandwidth covering the whole nation. This includes the 10MHz that had previously been allocated to the two state-owned telecoms, which now have to pay the prices set […]
An FCC Press Release today was headlined: “FCC ANNOUNCES PAUL MILGROM AND OTHER LEADING AUCTION EXPERTS TO ADVISE COMMISSION ON INCENTIVE AUCTION DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION.” In excerpt, it reports: “FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said, ‘I am delighted to have this world-class team of experts advising the Commission on this historic undertaking.’ …. The team of auction experts […]
Paul’s 20-year-old research on incentives was mentioned in an article published on September 19 in the New York Times. According to the article, Too much pressure to improve students’ test scores can reduce attention to other aspects of the curriculum and discourage cultivation of broader problem-solving skills, also known as “teaching to the test.” The economists BENGT HOLMSTROM and […]
Paul’s work as a bidding adviser is given a nice mention in the September 3, 2011 issue of The Economist magazine. According to the article, “In the run-up to an online auction in 2006 of radio-spectrum licences by America’s Federal Communications Commission, Paul Milgrom, a consultant and Stanford University professor, customised his game-theory software to assist […]
On May 9-10, Paul was in Santiago, Chile to advocate the creation of individual transferable fishing quotas (ITQs) and the use of auctions to assign at least half of them. (Chilean law authorizes auctions only for half of the fishing rights.) The use of auctions would not change the total allowable catch, but would open […]
On April 6, Paul Milgrom appeared at the White House on behalf of 112 economists to discuss the bipartisan “economists’ letter” to President Obama, which supports the use of “incentive auctions” to guide the voluntary redeployment of radio spectrum to higher value uses. The letter, signed by a distinguished group of economists including both Republicans and […]
Paul was interviewed on Turkish television last week, discussing the economic challenges that Turkey faces, particularly in its telecom sector. Here is the original link to Turkish television and an archival link.