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The GSMA, a global organization representing the interests of mobile operators worldwide, held a seminar for GSMA members in Armenia, Colombia on 22 September 2011. As part of the meeting, NERA Senior Vice President Richard Marsden was invited to present an introduction to spectrum auctions. Historically, most spectrum auctions used the simultaneous multiple round ascending auction format pioneered by the US Federal Communications Commission. In recent years, however, there has been a considerable amount of innovation in response to specific issues encountered in a variety of contexts, including changes to activity rules to help bidders manage risk and encourage 'honest' valuation-based bidding; the use of generic lots to facilitate contiguous assignment necessary for mobile broadband; and the use of package bidding to manage aggregation risk. In his presentation, Mr. Marsden discussed the advantages and disadvantages of some of the traditional and newer auction formats.

Download Mr. Marsden's presentation.