FCC names advisors for broadcast spectrum auctions

The FCC has named three companies—Auctionomics, Power Auctions and MicroTech—to help it design and implement the auctions that will sell broadcast spectrum on the open market.

Paul Milgrom, chairman of Auctionomics and a professor at Stanford University, will lead the team of auction experts. Melgrom, a member of the National Academy of Sciences and an expert in auction theory and design, advised the commission on its first spectrum auction.

Milgrom is the recipient of Nemmers Prize in Economics for contributions dramatically expanding the understanding of the role of information and incentives in a variety of settings, including auctions, the theory of the firm and oligopolistic markets. The FCC said he is widely regarded as one of the foremost thinkers in auction theory and design.

Joining Milgrom are Jonathan Levin and Ilya Segal, who are also both professors at Stanford and employed by Auctionomics. Levin is the chair of the Department of Economics at Stanford, and a recipient of the John Bates Clark Medal as the economist under the age of forty who has made the most significant contribution to economic thought and knowledge.

Ilya Segal is the Anderson Professor in the Humanities and Sciences at Stanford, and is a recipient of the Compass-Lexecon prize for the most significant contribution to the understanding and implementation of competition policy.

Lawrence Ausubel, a professor of Economics at the University of Maryland, leads power Auctions, based in Washington, D.C.. Ausubel is a widely published author on auctions, industrial organization and financial markets and is an expert on efficient auction design.

Power Auctions has extensive experience in the design and implementation of high-profile auctions around the globe and currently provides spectrum auction design and software services to Canada and Australia.

MicroTech, a leading technology and systems integrator for critical infrastructure and information technology solutions, will provide security, systems development and implementation support directly tied to their cloud computing solutions.