Private Sector Investment and Employment Impacts of Reassigning Spectrum to Mobile Broadband in the United States

Mobile broadband is critical to the U.S. communications infrastructure and our future economy. Private sector investment, with substantial job creation benefits, can be facilitated by the reassignment of spectrum to mobile broadband. Building on previous studies, we estimate that the reassignment of 300 MHz of spectrum to mobile broadband within five years will spur $75 billion in new capital spending, creating more than 300,000 jobs and $230 billion in additional Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The release of an additional 200 MHz of new spectrum after five years will create an additional 200,000 jobs and increase GDP by an additional $155 billion. These estimates represent the tip of the iceberg in terms of economic benefits. Reassigning additional spectrum to mobile broadband also would generate substantial spillover effects as companies such as Apple, Google and Qualcomm, small application developers and other innovative start-up companies rush to create new mobile broadband products and services. Given published estimates of the spillover effects from communications and broadband investment, it seems likely that the spillover effects from the reassignment of spectrum to mobile broadband will exceed, by a considerable margin, the multiplier effects that we present here. A delay in the reassignment of spectrum will necessarily delay the consequent job and economic output benefits that we identify.