In this paper, we assess the applicability of auctions based on the Vickrey second price model for allocating wireless spectrum in developing countries. We first provide an overview of auction models for allocating resources. We then examine the experience of auctioning spectrum in different countries. Based on this examination, we posit some axioms that seem to have to be satisfied when alloca...

Most developed countries allocate radio spectrum by auction. The Simultaneous Ascending Auction (SAA) has proven to work well for this application. Recently, new designs that allow package bidding have been proposed. These designs have only been tried in the past few years. We first provide some historical background regarding the allocation of spectrum, describe the use of the SAA design and i...

Dynamic spectrum auction is an effective solution to manage spectrum across many small networks. As the number of participants grows, collusion poses a serious threat to auction performance. Small groups of colluding bidders can make use of the interference constraints to manipulate auction outcomes, leading to unfair spectrum distribution and significant loss in auction revenue. Prior designs,...

W analyze a discrete clock auction with lowest-accepted-bid (LAB) pricing and provisional winners, as adopted by India for its 3G spectrum auction. In a perfect Bayesian equilibrium, the provisional winner shades her bid, whereas provisional losers do not. Such differential shading leads to inefficiency. An auction with highest-rejected-bid (HRB) pricing and exit bids is strategically simple, h...

We examine bidding behavior in a clock auction in which price is set by the lowest-accepted bid and provisional winners are reported each round (the LABpw auction). This format was used in the India 3G spectrum auction. In the standard theory, the auction performs poorly. In particular it yields lower revenues and is less efficient than the more standard clock auction with exit bids and highest...

The Federal Communications Commission held its first auction of radio spectrum at the Nationwide Narrowband PCS Auction in July 1994. The simultaneous multiple-round auction, which lasted five days, was an ascending bid auction in which all licenses were offered simultaneously. This paper describes the auction rules and how bidders prepared for the auction. The full history of bidding is presen...

We report the results of a computational study of repacking in the FCC Incentive Auctions. Our interest lies in the structure and constraints of the solution space of feasible repackings. Our analyses are “mechanism-free”, in the sense that they identify constraints that must hold regardless of the reverse auction mechanism chosen or the prices offered for broadcaster clearing. We examine topic...

Inspired by some spectrum auctions we consider a stylized license auction with incumbents and a potential entrant. Whereas the entrant values only the bundle of several spectrum blocks (synergy), incumbents’ marginal valuations are nonincreasing. The seller proactively encourages entry and subjects incumbents to a spectrum cap. In this framework, a simultaneous multi-round auction (SMRA) gives ...

The growing demand in mobile Internet access calls for high capacity and energy efficient cellular access with better cell coverage. The in-band relaying solution, proposed in LTE-Advanced, improves coverage without requiring additional spectrum for backhauling, making its deployment more economical and practical. However, in-band relay without careful management incurs low spectrum utilization...

Combinatorial auctions have recently attracted the interests of many researchers due to their promising applications such as the spectrum auctions recently held by the FCC. In a combinatorial auction, multiple items with interdependent values are sold simultaneously and bidders are allowed to bid on any combination of items. This paper presents a method for implementing several secure combinato...