Genachowski: Freeing spectrum will create billions of dollars

The U.S. has a head start on reaping benefits from the mobile Internet, but it could lose that position if spectrum is not made available to run the latest wireless devices, according to Genachowski.

“U.S. companies are ahead of the pack on 4G, having invented the technology and having already invested billions in next-generation networks,” he said.

“But ahead start does not guarantee a win. Global leadership is not a given. It must be earned,” he said.

It can take 6 to 13 years to repurpose spectrum for new uses, so immediate action is needed, according to Genachowski.
 
“We need to get moving now. We don’t want to find ourselves in a spectrum crunch with consequences we can predict — frustrated innovators, frustrated investors, and frustrated consumers with the choice of lousy service or sky-high prices,” he said.

The FCC’s plan for spreading Internet access sets a goal of freeing up 500 megahertz of spectrum in the next decade, and 300 megahertz in the next five years.

President Obama backed that goal in an executive memorandum in June, instructing agencies to work together to make spectrum available.

The backbone of the FCC’s policies to free up spectrum are incentive auctions, which would provide carrots to broadcasters to relinquish their spectrum allotments.

Genachowski plans to launch a rulemaking process that would make it possible to quickly implement incentive auctions at his November meeting. The process is contingent on legislation; there are bills in both chambers supporting incentive auctions.

The rulemaking proceeding would lift technical restrictions so broadcast spectrum can be used for broadband, Genachowski said. It will also consider licensing policies that would allow broadcasters to channel-share, which would also free up spectrum.

At the same meeting, he hopes to launch a rulemaking process to expand the agency’s experimental licensing program, which helped allow the commission to move in September toward allotting spectrum vacated by television broadcasters — “white spaces” — for mobile broadband.

The third item on the November agenda is a notice of inquiry aimed at finding ways to improve the efficiency of how spectrum is used.

It will “accelerate opportunistic uses of spectrum — the key word being opportunity,” he said. “We hope this item will help us identify ways to improve the efficiency of spectrum, and launch new value-providing markets.”