The Effect of Incumbent Bidding in Set-Aside Auctions: An Analysis of Prices in the Closed and Open Segments of FCC Auction 35

This paper examines the impact of an incumbent carrier’s participation in two simultaneously conducted auctions: one set-aside for non-incumbents and one open to all carriers. This paper estimates the extent to which prices in the closed auction were inflated by the participation of incumbents. This paper also estimates what prices would have been in the open auction had incumbents been excluded from bidding in the closed. It is found that an incumbent’s participation in the closed auction through a front, Alaska Native, enabled it to win more licenses at lower prices in FCC Auction 35. In contrast, non-incumbents won fewer licenses and paid more for what they won. The econometric techniques employed here to estimate prices in a “but for” world could be replicated in future damage analysis. Finally, this paper suggests an alternative method of screening bidders seeking access to set-aside auctions that would be consistent with the FCC’s goal of promoting competition in the wireless industry.Auctions, spectrum auctions, market design

Approaches to lowering the cost of large space telescopes

New development approaches, including launch vehicles and advances in sensors, computing, and software, have lowered the cost of entry into space, and have enabled a revolution in low-cost, high-risk Small Satellite (SmallSat) missions. To bring about a similar transformation in larger space telescopes, it is necessary to reconsider the full paradigm of space observatories. Here we will review the history of space telescope development and cost drivers, and describe an example conceptual design for a low cost 6.5 m optical telescope to enable new science when operated in space at room temperature. It uses a monolithic primary mirror of borosilicate glass, drawing on lessons and tools from decades of experience with ground-based observatories and instruments, as well as flagship space missions. It takes advantage, as do large launch vehicles, of increased computing power and space-worthy commercial electronics in low-cost active predictive control systems to maintain stability. We will describe an approach that incorporates science and trade study results that address driving requirements such as integration and testing costs, reliability, spacecraft jitter, and wavefront stability in this new risk-tolerant "LargeSat" context.Comment: Presented at SPIE, Optics+Photonics 2023, Astronomical Optics: Design, Manufacture, and Test of Space and Ground Systems IV in San Diego, CA, US

Mandatory Unbundling, UNE-P, and the Cost of Equity: Does TELRIC Pricing Increase Risk for Incumbent Local Exchange Carriers?

The Telecommunications Act of 1996 sought to advance competition in the market for local exchange service by promoting facilities-based investment. In implementing the new legislation, the Federal Communications Commission ( FCC ) stressed the importance of preserving the investment incentives of both the incumbent local exchange carriers ( ILECs ) and the competitive local exchange carriers ( CLECs ). However, economic research has explained that forcing an ILEC to share its network with a competitor at total long-run incremental cost ( TELRIC ) will deter it from investing in its network. Thomas M. Jorde, J. Gregory Sidak, and David J. Teece explained in the Yale Journal on Regulation that mandatory unbundling harms ILEC investment because it increases the ILEC\u27s cost of equity