Senators Call for Spectrum Inventory

from the we're-missing-one-spectrum dept

Mon, Mar 23rd 2009 7:56pm — Carlo Longino

There's been a lot of talk over the years about the various studies and statistics used to measure broadband in the US. Very often the figures don't tell a completely accurate story, so there's been a push for the government to get better data as a part of the formation of a national broadband plan. It's clear, though, that wireless access will play a big part of the broadband future of the country, but it has to be handled a little differently. Wired networks can always have more capacity added, but wireless networks have the constraint of a finite amount of radio spectrum. A big part of regulators' work in enabling mobile broadband to blossom is in ensuring that spectrum is being used efficiently. This is part of the drive behind plans like the digital TV transition and the white spaces spectrum, which seek to wring more productivity out of the airwaves. But for more of these types of efforts to move forward, it's crucial to get a better handle on just how the entire spectrum is being used, so a couple of senators have introduced legislation that would have the FCC and NTIA undertake a "spectrum inventory" detailing the usage of spectrum between 300 MHz and 3.5 GHz. Hopefully this will make it clearer how much valuable spectrum is being mismanaged or hoarded, and open the door to some new licensing policies, like spectrum markets, or even just the opening of more spectrum to unlicensed use to take advantage of new technologies.

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Filed Under: inventory, spectrum

9 Comments

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TheStupidOne, 23 Mar 2009 @ 8:49pm

mmm unlicensed
I do love unlicensed spectrum. so does my laptop, cordless phone, and hopefully better wide area broadband. However selling a chunk of spectrum for several billion dollars is too appealing to the government to pass up.
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DCX2, 23 Mar 2009 @ 8:56pm

Credit where credit is due
The Senators who have introduced the legislation are John Kerry and Olympia Snowe. If you agree with this, you should go drop them a line and say thanks for being smart! You might even want to give a donation...
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Anonymous Coward, 23 Mar 2009 @ 9:55pm

Where's WH? Or do you just have a love obsession with Mike?
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Anonymous Coward, 23 Mar 2009 @ 10:31pm

When I was working as a frequency manager i had a list of every authorized transmitter within about 30 miles. the people people that i got my information from have lists for every authorization in north america. this survey shouldn't bee too hard. (granted some of my info was wildly inaccurate when i first started but by the time i left it was mostly correct)
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Weird Harold, 24 Mar 2009 @ 3:47am

"just the opening of more spectrum to unlicensed use to take advantage of new technologies."

You would have to think that this type of survey would be more in line with getting ready to auction off more space to raise money.
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Anonymous Coward, 24 Mar 2009 @ 4:33am

Re:
We all have access to that, it's the FCC website.
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Dave, 24 Mar 2009 @ 6:53am

Re:
Considering how fast the US gov't is racking up deficit and debt, I can see the need for the auctions.
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Steve R. (profile), 24 Mar 2009 @ 9:07am

Need Transparancy on What Spectrum Licensing Means
In following this debate, I have not seen a real disclosure of what will be licensed off. All I've been hearing are the empty buzz words that the spectrum should not be in government ownership so that private industry can innovate and take advantage of new technologies. Well, innovation and the lack of regulation allowed a lot of "innovation" in the financial sector that "proves" that the private sector lacks competence itself.

I am not against the LICENSING of spectrum, where the US government holds the spectrum in trust for the benefit of the American people. What I would be opposed to is the unspoken "land grab" of spectrum by private entities.

Also many people who seen to favor the "land grab" model do not seem to disclose the full implications of what this would mean. For example, would you now be required to license, for a fee, your currently free wifi router in your home?????
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Man from Atlanta, 25 Mar 2009 @ 6:43am

Re: Re:
Help me here because I don't do that much FCC work. I can go look at the licenses, but I have not seen where the FCC posts which licenses are going unused, or are considered "hoarded" spectrum. Is there some public reporting on license use?

I don't mind a review of spectrum, so long as it comes with some intelligent review and willingness to change the allocation and auction process. Not holding my breath . . .
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