Forget the fast lanes, here’s what really matters at the FCC this week

[Commentary] This week, the Federal Communications Commission will vote on the most important item on its agenda for the last decade : a vote on upcoming auctions for spectrum licenses that will take place, after many delays, sometime next year. Though the auctions aren’t getting any of the press, they’re what actually matters at the meeting. Getting the auctions right, as the FCC fully understands, is critical.

According to the agency’s visionary 2010 National Broadband Plan, the explosion in demand for wireless network capacity that began with the 2007 release of the iPhone and has continued with Android, tablets, and the proliferation of high-definition video applications, has put tremendous strain on existing mobile broadband networks, both licensed and unlicensed. Delays for permission from local zoning authorities to install new cell towers and even new antennas affixed to utility poles are increasing. So the only significant way to expand mobile broadband supply is to use different radio frequencies to handle all the new traffic. The Broadband Plan conservatively calculated an urgent need for 300 MHz of new spectrum by next year, and 500 MHz by 2020.

[Downes is a Project Director at the Georgetown Center for Business and Public Policy]