President Obama signed an initiative to nearly double the amount of
available commercial and federal broadband spectrum for mobile devices,
the White House reported. In a planned speech to the New America
Foundation, a nonprofit, post-partisan think tank, White House economic
adviser Lawrence Summers is expected to provide further details on the
plan, which would release 500MHz of federal and commercial spectrum
over a 10-year period.
The Presidential Memorandum is part of the broader approach to free up
spectrum that also includes legislation to facilitate the transition.
Administration has no official estimate of the auction revenues from
this plan. The actual amount will depend on effective implementation
and additional design details, but based on past auctions, some
analysts believe the revenue potential could reach in the tens of
billions of dollars.
Some estimates indicate that the next five years there will be an
increase in wireless data of between 20 and 45 times 2009 levels,
reflecting the increasing use of smartphones, netbooks, and other
wireless devices. The four-point plan from the Obama administration
tackles issues such as providing the tools to allocate spectrum,
enabling spectrum to be put to the best use and using auction profits
for deficit reduction programs and infrastructure investment.
Reuters reported
excerpts from Summers’ speech where he said the initiative would
“nearly double the amount of commercial spectrum available to unleash
the innovative potential of wireless broadband” while adding job growth
and encouraging private sector investment. The official told Reuters
most of the spectrum to be auctioned off would be designated for mobile
usage and profits from the auction would go toward building a
“nationwide mobile broadband network for public safety.”
The announcement comes as the Federal Communications Commission (FCC)
is struggling to convince major broadband providers such as AT&T
and Verizon to agree to a re-regulating of the broadband industry. FCC
Chairman Julius Genachowski's chief of staff, Edward Lazarus, scheduled
closed-door meetings with industry leaders last week. The
telecommunications industry has expressed concern that regulation could
strangle growth and innovation and hamper the U.S. economy.
According to a recent study, GDP can increase $7 to $10 for every
dollar invested in mobile wireless broadband networks. The White House
reported wireless providers directly employ more than 268,000 people, a
number that has grown about 6 percent year-over-year for the last four
years, and a government release concerning the memorandum said the
mobile wireless broadband generates “huge productivity gains” to the
U.S. economy: Some estimate that those benefits are valued at $28
billion per year and rising, with combined mobile wireless voice and
broadband productivity gains set to reach $427 billion annually by
2016.
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