September 25.2007

The Elliott School of International Affairs Building, 1957 E Street, NW, Room 112
Washington

On February 18, 2009, the 700MHz frequency band of wireless communications spectrum will be vacated by television broadcasters who will be switching to all digital signal transmission. As a result, the Federal Communications Commission has mandated that the newly vacant spectrum be used for broadband wireless access and be auctioned in February of 2009. This has created quite a stir in Washington as Google and the nation's leading telecommunications companies have battled over the rules that will govern the auction. The Institute for Politics, Democracy, and Internet will host a discussion — the first in its autumn 2007 IPDI Ideas series — examining the controversy surrounding the auction with representatives from Google Inc., and the George Washington University.