The FCC has made further efforts this week to emphasise the dangers of the so-called “spectrum crunch”, and to encourage spectrum owners to voluntarily auction spectrum.
The regulator released a new infographic (available here), which claims that…
The FCC has made further efforts this week to emphasise the dangers of the so-called “spectrum crunch”, and to encourage spectrum owners to voluntarily auction spectrum.
The regulator released a new infographic (available here), which claims that mobile broadband traffic will increase 35-fold by 2015. It also emphasises the spectrum-hungry nature of many fashionable devices, including tablets, which, the FCC says, use 122 times more data than smartphones.
In an accompanying statement, the FCC said: “The single biggest step [to free up spectrum] is voluntary incentive auctions.”
Failure to do so would stifle innovation and result in higher prices for consumers and growing network congestion.
As a means of avoiding this spectrum shortage, the FCC has been promoting “voluntary incentive auctions” previously. These auctions will see spectrum licensees, like broadcasters, voluntarily supplying spectrum for an auction. They then get a share of proceeds when the spectrum is auctioned.
Yet not all commentators are convinced that the US is facing a spectrum shortage.
A Citigroup analyst report in September disputed the argument that a shortage of spectrum is threatening the development of mobile services.
The report’s authors argued that US wireless carriers hold 538MHz of spectrum and have another 300MHz “waiting in the wings”, but are currently using a total of just 192MHz of this spectrum.
Other commentators have gone further, expressing concerns of “spectrum hoarding” by some companies.
Meanwhile, the Coalition for Free TV and Broadband yesterday put forward a rival proposal to freeing up spectrum.
The coalition released a report by Business Analytix which claims that “vast amounts of mobile data demand” could be offloaded from wireless networks if broadcasters were allowed to enhance their technology in order to integrate with mobile devices.
The coalition argues that this move would eliminate the need for incentive auctions.
In response, an FCC spokesman said that the regulator was looking forward to reviewing the details of this concept.
“Like the transition to digital television, any change in broadcast standards would impact current technology and devices and would take an extended period of time. In the meantime, we face a spectrum crunch now and the single biggest step we can take towards solving it is to move forward with voluntary incentive auctions,” he said.
A spokesman for the National Association of Broadcasters told TelecomFinance earlier in October. “We do not oppose the concept of voluntary TV spectrum auctions, so long as local stations that don’t volunteer to go out of business are held harmless.”
