While there is a great need for wireless broadband spectrum for use in mobile products like your iPhone or iPad, the current proposal the FCC is promoting is nothing short of selling off public airwaves for private profit in which they will have a hard time regulating the use of. In effect just giving the public trust of spectrum they are the trustee of to private hands.
While it is not denied the need for spectrum to make all of our gadgets data availability and speeds that can be used for great public good, there is a terrible downside to not allow more competition for that service.
The US has been falling in rank as far as high speed internet availability and speeds for wired services, it is also falling in the area of pricing for those same services for both wired and wireless service. Less service for more money.
WHY?
Because we are the only nation who allowed our company’s that provide those service to buy each other out/merge and have less competition for the same services.
Therefor, less quality at a higher price than the rest of the great economic countries of the world and falling fast.
You don’t think the FCC came up with this on their own do you?
It was promoted since the thought of White-Fi spectrum was going to be released somewhat free to provide back-haul service for local wireless internet providers. The big 3 cell carriers could not stand this to be given away when they needed it to make more for profit services for themselves and leave the public still in wanting for those who do not live in or near a city. In effect becoming a new competitive service for them.
This proposal does nothing to increase competition, only re-enforces the monopolies that exist in wireless carriers.
Please read this from CNET.com which contains the FCC docket proposal.
To be realistic, the current big 3 wireless carriers should be forced to make more efficient use of spectrum they now have a license. After all, they are the ones who make the promises of a network they can not deliver for the end user so why should I be forced to give up a future public television station for their poor use of spectrum.
Any auction for spectrum should be to those that have a specific format for a higher efficient use of the new frequencies and should be available to all that have a non-caped service for its use. After all, these are public frequencies and the FCC has done this before in issuing private use of public radio spectrum and it resulted in a immediate direct success for all involved. It was what forced the cell carriers to go digital in the first place.
Any auction that does not increase competition, only worsens our already low world standard in availability and service vs cost.
What the FCC fails to regulate, the providers will soon take advantage of in unnecessary for profit only limitations on the end users.
If the carriers want to charge per gigabyte, let’s tax per gigabyte of spectrum.They will want to make more efficient use of radio spectrum then. If anyone should profit from the reselling of public spectrum, it should be the taxpayer on a annual basis.