FCC Auction Staff -- Thanks for the hard work!

Often enough -- more than I would like -- I'm in the position of criticizing the FCC's leadership for what I consider to be a seemingly endless string of unduly regulatory decisions that fail to account for the increasingly competitive communications marketplace.

Not today.

I just want to stop what I'm doing, as the Commission's incentive spectrum begins, to praise the FCC's auction staff, and especially Gary Epstein, the chair of the agency's Incentive Auction Task Force, for the very hard work that has brought us to this point.

I don't know the extent to which the incentive auction will meet expectations (whatever they are) in order to be considered a slam-bang success. But it is a very important - yet very complicated endeavor. And for the sake of meeting the continued and growing need for more spectrum to meet rapidly expanding wireless broadband demands, I sure hope the auction is successful.

There are aspects of the auction design that I would have done differently. This is certainly true of some of the commissioners as well. Nevertheless, come what may, the FCC commissioners and staff deserve thanks for their hard work on the project over many long months.

And, most of all, Gary Epstein, Howard Symons, and all the FCC staff deserve our gratitude for their dedication to doing all that was required to get us to the starting gate!