The IoT needs more wireless spectrum

Two big waves in the wireless world are driving the need for more spectrum, the radio signals that carry data to our phones, tablets and other mobile devices. First, the boom in mobile video, which demands far more capacity than previous mobile applications, is changing the nature of wireless data traffic. The millennial and post-millennial generations are consuming far more entertainment on mobile devices than their TV- and PC-bound elders. They videochat on FaceTime and Skype and send video clips on Snapchat and Instagram. Facebook’s new auto-roll video clips now begin playing without a click from the user, turning your newsfeed into a cascading video feed. And apps like Periscope allow celebrities, reporters (and anyone else) to stream real-time video from their phones to their followers.

Meanwhile, the emerging Internet of Things -- what I call the immersive Internet -- is driving the next big acceleration in the volume of connected devices. The idea that most people on earth now have mobile phones is staggering. These billions of mobile computers far outnumber the connected devices of the earlier Internet era, PCs. As the world becomes saturated with 7 billion or so mobile phones, however, the immersive Internet will multiply that total several times over.

[Bret Swanson is president of Entropy Economics LLC]