The government has a big job ahead of...

The government has a big job ahead of it in coordinating with nonfederal users both before and after the AWS-3 auction “to allow commercial use of the band as soon after the auction as possible,” said Steve Sharkey, senior director at T-Mobile, Thursday in a blog post (http://bit.ly/1pdJ4Fs). The AWS-3 spectrum, like the AWS-1 band, is government spectrum being repurposed for commercial use. “Much work still needs to be done to ensure potential bidders fully understand the scope of federal incumbency, relocation timelines, and the potential for temporary or indefinite sharing through geographic or temporal access to spectrum,” Sharkey wrote. “Without additional clarity about the impact of government operations in the band, wireless carriers’ bidding strategies will have to be made in a vacuum, potentially depressing auction participation and revenues.” Potential bidders also need to be able to “determine the realistic impact of incumbent federal users through the transition,” he said. Also important is “an understanding that realistic models will be used to coordinate between industry and government,” he said.