Gordon And Mike's Ict Podcast

Intro: In this podcast we continue discussion on the in-progress FCC 700 MHz spectrum auction, with a focus on the D-Block public safety piece. Mike: Gordon, can you give us a little background on the auction? Back in 2005 Congress passed a law that requires all U.S. TV stations to convert to all digital broadcasts and give up analog spectrum in the 700 MHz frequency band. This law will free up 62 MHz of spectrum in the 700 MHz band and effectively eliminate channels between 52 and 69. This conversion, which has a deadline of February 18, 2009, has freed up spectrum that is being split up by the FCC into five blocks: A-Block - 12 MHz, split up into 176 smaller economic areasB-Block - 12 MHz, split up into 734 cellular market areasC-Block - 22 MHz, up into 12 regional licensesD-Block - 10MHz, combined with approximately 10MHz allocated for public safety, a single national license.E-Block - 6 MHz, split up into 176 smaller economic areas Each Block has a reserve price set by FCC and if a reserve price is not m