News for hackers. Stuff that matters.
Re:The bandwidth bottleneck that is throttling the Internet by runeks on Wednesday August 10, 2016 @05:28PM (#12264865)
The spectrum is paid for by the auction winners. A new auction happens yearly. Spectrum isn't traded in the market like land. It's leased by the government on a yearly contract. So no tax is needed.
Re:The bandwidth bottleneck that is throttling the Internet by JumpCrisscross on Wednesday August 10, 2016 @07:01PM (#12265298)
Is every band of spectrum re-auctioned every year? How do companies make multi-year investments?
Re:The bandwidth bottleneck that is throttling the Internet by gozur88 on Wednesday August 10, 2016 @08:54PM (#12265697)
If you had a new auction every year nobody would put money into infrastructure development. Mobile providers spend billions every year maintaining and upgrading networks - there's no way they would do that if it was possible to lose the spectrum they were using.
Re:The bandwidth bottleneck that is throttling the Internet by SilasX on Wednesday August 10, 2016 @05:40PM (#12264925)
That sounds like an implementation of a 100% LV tax on radio frequencies.
Re:The bandwidth bottleneck that is throttling the Internet by hx87 on Wednesday August 10, 2016 @05:46PM (#12264958)
It's public ownership + periodically auctioned leases, so it's hard to calculate a LV rate equivalent. The closest arrangement I can think of with respect to land would be Chinese real estate, where "title" is legally a 99-year lease from the government.