STATEMENT OF
COMMISSIONER JESSICA ROSENWORCEL
Re: Updating Part 1 Competitive Bidding Rules, WT Docket No. 14-170, Expanding the Economic 
and Innovation Opportunities of Spectrum Through Incentive Auctions, GN Docket No. 12-268,
Petition of DIRECTV Group, Inc. and EchoStar LLC for Expedited Rulemaking to Amend Section 
1.2105(a)(2)(xi) and 1.2106(a) of the Commission’s Rules and/or for Interim Conditional Waiver, 
RM-11395, Implementation of the Commercial Spectrum Enhancement Act and Modernization of 
the Commission’s Competitive Bidding Rules and Procedures, WT Docket No. 05-211.
It has been nearly a decade since the Commission last updated its competitive bidding rules—and 
what a difference a decade makes.  At the time, flip phones were state-of-the-art.  Movie rentals involved 
a trip to the neighborhood Blockbuster and viewing them was limited to the television screen.  No one 
imagined the range of daily activities we now conduct on our wireless devices.  The economic force of 
the Internet of Things was no more than a dream from the far-off future.    
But that future is now.  So it is the right time to revisit our decade-old rules governing 
competitive bidding in wireless auctions.  We do that here by modernizing our policies in a way that is 
consistent with our statutory obligations under Section 309.  Our reforms provide designated entities with 
the flexibility they need to thrive in a wireless marketplace that has changed.  They also ensure that only 
the entities Congress intended to assist will receive the benefits of designated entity status.  In addition, 
for the first time ever, we ensure that rural service providers have a special opportunity to qualify for 
bidding credits when they provide service to rural communities.
These reforms are smart, balanced, and fair.  But to increase the opportunity these policies can 
provide, we need to increase the spectrum pipeline.  We have, of course, a big auction on the horizon that 
involves choice airwaves in the 600 MHz band.  But we need to think beyond this one auction now.  We 
need to find ways to speed the process of repurposing more spectrum for mobile broadband use, and to do 
so we need to provide federal users with incentives to be efficient with their airwaves—so they see gain 
and not just loss in reallocation.  After all, with more spectrum in the pipeline, we will have more 
airwaves to auction, and more opportunities for designated entities in the wireless sector.