The government's decision to auction licenses for the next generation of cellular telephone service, known as Personal Communications Services, marks a dramatic change in the structure of the telecommunications industry. In December, for example, a new way of doing business with the government will begin when the federal licensing of radio waves will be auctioned to U.S. businesses. The Federal Communications Commission hopes this auction will deliver new and better wireless services to the public -- from cellular phones to pagers, from portable radios to wireless remote controllers. "Academics, students and business people will need to learn new ways to navigate the wireless communications industry in the wake of this regulatory change," according to Thomas Hazlett, associate professor of agricultural economics and director of the Program on Telecommunications Policy at the UC Davis Institute for Governmental Affairs. The program aims to help clarify the issues in this enormously complicated environment, he says. Hazlett served at the FCC in 1991-92 when the congressional reforms were adopted to allow the commission to auction off spectrum rights to communication businesses. "The surprisingly high prices paid for paging and interactive television licenses has underlined the degree of uncertainty involved in this uncharted process," says Hazlett.