President Bush's proposed budget for 2008 grants the FCC the power to assess fees on un-auctioned wireless licenses and to auction domestic satellite licenses, including those used to supplement land-based cellular networks. If Congress approves of them, new spectrum fees would begin in 2008 and raise a projected $3.6 billion over the next 10 years. The administration also requested that Congress extend the FCC's auction authority indefinitely--it currently expires on Sept. 30, 2011. The total figure of receipts from selling airwaves amounts to $21 billion between 2006 and 2011.
For more on the administration's spectrum proposals:
- read this article from RCR News