Wireless broadband a priority for Administration

Expanding wireless broadband coverage to 98 percent of Americans remains a key priority for the Obama Administration in its fiscal year 2013 budget proposal.

To help do this, President Obama has proposed a boost in funding for the Federal Communications Commission and the Commerce Department's National Telecommunications and Information Administration, two agencies leading an effort to increase the availability of spectrum needed to help expand wireless broadband to most Americans. Some of this new spectrum would come from empowering the FCC authority to auction off spectrum wheedled out of broadcasters. The Administration projects it can generate as much as $21 billion to help pay down the deficit with these auctions -- about $5 billion more than the highest estimate from Congress. The Administration is once again proposing that the FCC be given authority to impose fees on spectrum license holders, a proposal it estimates would generate $4.8 billion over the next decade. The proposal, however, has garnered little interest from Congress in past years.