Ambitious tech agenda faces hurdles

The State of the Union address gave the technology community plenty of lip service on areas of importance to them — investment in research and development, tax reform, and expanding the reach of the Internet — but few details on how the rhetoric will translate into practice. In his most concrete commitment to the tech agenda, President Barack Obama laid out the bold goal of making mobile broadband available to 98 percent of the population over the next five years. Telecom experts say the feat is possible, but faces a host of challenges.

In order to expand the reach of wireless broadband, the Federal Communications Commission must free up more airwaves, also known as spectrum, that power mobile Internet devices. But bringing more spectrum to market is no easy task. The process requires jumping through a slew of bureaucratic hoops and threading the needle of the complicated politics that lie behind it. Part of the political challenge will be overcoming the ill will generated by the Open Internet regulations the FCC recently adopted — to the dismay of Republicans. The net neutrality regulations will stifle the private investment needed to build out broadband, the GOP claims. Rebecca Arbogast, managing director at investment firm Stifel Nicolaus, called the five-year roll out plan “ambitious.” “The reason is that it all ends up being buried in the details of what qualifies as wireless broadband,” she said. Much of the current broadband coverage is physical cable, she noted. What’s more, she said, reaching remotely-located houses is not financially attractive for businesses.