The others place voice bids over the toll-free line. Customer agencies can set the rate callers will pay to access a value-added service, and the company collects the fees and sends monthly checks to the agencies. The idea is to push the cost back to the cost causer, not the taxpayer,''she said. The FCC began auctioning licenses for PCS frequencies when the old system of applicant hearings before administrative law judges became too lengthy and expensive for the large segments of spectrum being carved up. Going once The lottery system used to award cellular licenses would have been an improvement over the hearings, but it wasn't cost-effective for the government because many winners sold off their licenses.
Auction is the most effective way.
Applicants must pay a fee to engage in the simultaneous, multiround bidding where each can see what others are offering. The auction continues until a round opens and no one bids. PC bidding offers additional value over voice phone bids, because access to the licensing database lets bidders track their competitors' as well as their own bids. Since the software was introduced for the fourth FCC auction in December 1994, it has been fine-tuned to keep running accounts by license area and by dollar amounts for each round. We've not had any backlash from it at all,''he said.