NEWS 
Federal Communications Commission 
445 12th Street, S.W. 
Washington, D. C.  20554 
 
This is an unofficial announcement of Commission action.  Release of the full text of a Commission order constitutes official action. 
See MCI v. FCC. 515 F 2d 385 (D.C. Circ 1974). 
 
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:    NEWS MEDIA CONTACT: 
March 21, 2013      Matthew Berry, 202-418-2005 
        Email:  Matthew.Berry@fcc.gov   
 
 
STATEMENT OF COMMISSIONER AJIT PAI 
ON COMMENCEMENT OF PROCESS TO AUCTION 1755–1780 MHz BAND 
Just last week, in my testimony before the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, 
Science, and Transportation, I urged the FCC to “commence the notification-and-auction process 
now to preserve our ability to auction the 1755–1780 MHz spectrum paired with the 2155–2180 
MHz spectrum.”1  Today we have done just that. 
 
I applaud Chairman Genachowski for notifying the National Telecommunications and 
Information Administration (NTIA) at the U.S. Department of Commerce that the FCC “plans to 
commence the auction of licenses in the 1695–1710 MHz band and the 1755–1780 MHz band as 
early as September 2014.”2  This is the first step in what will be an important process, and I look 
forward to working with my FCC colleagues, NTIA, and other stakeholders to help American 
consumers and the economy benefit from this spectrum as quickly as possible.  In particular, I 
continue to believe that we should aim to clear and reallocate the 1755–1780 MHz band rather 
than forcing federal users and commercial operators to undertake the complicated, untested task 
of spectrum sharing. 
 
 
                                            
1 Testimony of Commissioner Ajit Pai, Hearing before the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and 
Transportation, “Oversight of the Federal Communications Commission” at 2–3 (Mar. 12, 2013), available at 
http://go.usa.gov/2Vj3. 
2 Letter from Julius Genachowksi, Chairman, FCC, to Lawrence E. Strickling, Assistant Secretary for 
Communications and Information, U.S. Department of Commerce, at 1 (March 20, 2013), available at 
http://go.usa.gov/2VR5.