After three years of politicking, it now looks like Congress may actually give the FCC authority to conduct incentive auctions for mobile spectrum, and soon.  That, at least, is what the FCC seems to think. At CES last week, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski largely repeated the speech he has now given three years in a [...]

We’ve recently added another dozen posts to the Media page. These include several articles and interviews related to Larry’s efforts to help stop dangerous copyright legislation pending in Congress, known as SOPA and Protect IP. Larry also provides detailed analysis of a more sensible alternative proposal from Sen. Ron Wyden and Rep. Darrell Issa, the [...]

I’ve written several articles in the last few weeks critical of the dangerously unprincipled turn at the Federal Communications Commission toward a quixotic, political agenda.  But as I reflect more broadly on the agency’s behavior over the last few years, I find something deeper and even more disturbing is at work.  The agency’s unreconstructed view [...]

  We’ve recently added over two dozen new posts to the Media page. Most have to do with SOPA, the Stop Online Piracy Act, introduced a few weeks ago in Congress to cheers from the entertainment industry and jeers from Silicon Valley. The bill would make it easier–too easy–for copyright and trademark holders to turn [...]

We’ve added another dozen entries to the Media Page. Throughout the summer, Larry was busy with articles and press interviews on everything from pending copyright legislation, the FCC’s annual wireless competition report, and the merger of AT&T and T-Mobile. The focus, as always, was on the impact of these regulatory proceedings on Silicon Valley and [...]

For CNET this morning, I have a long article reviewing the sad recent history of how local governments determine the quality of mobile services. As it  turns out, the correlation is deeply negative.  In places with the highest level of user complaints (San Francisco, Washington, D.C.), it turns out that endless delays or outright denials [...]

On Forbes this morning, I argue that the Department of Justice’s effort to block the AT&T/T-Mobile merger signals a dangerous turn in antitrust enforcement. While President Obama promised during his campaign to “reinvigorate” antitrust, few expected the agency would turn its attention with such laser-like precision on the technology sector, one of the few bright [...]

BY LARRY DOWNES AND GEOFFREY A. MANNE The FCC published in June its annual report on the state of competition in the mobile services marketplace. Under ordinary circumstances, this 300-plus page tome would sit quietly on the shelf, since, like last year’s report, it ‘‘makes no formal finding as to whether there is, or is [...]

We’ve added about a dozen new posts to the Media Page on my website, reflecting a sampling of articles, media quotes, and radio appearances from the last few months. These include several pieces for CNET News.com and Forbes, as well as links to appearances on NPR’s “Science Friday” (debating Sen. Al Franken on privacy law) [...]

For CNET this morning, I write about the latest tempest in the AT&T/T-Mobile USA merger teapot: cellular backhaul or “special access” as its known in the industry. Like a child sitting on Santa’s lap at the mall, Sprint CEO Dan Hesse included backhaul in his wish list of conditions he’d like to see attached to [...]