Spectrum and the Wireless Revolution

[Commentary] The latest mobile devices depend on an unseen scarce resource: the radio waves, or spectrum, that transmit mobile data. The demand for mobile data is now roughly doubling every year. Meanwhile, the supply of spectrum supporting mobile devices has remained the same since 2008. That means we're in a race against time. The demand for spectrum will exceed supply by 2013, according to Federal Communications Commission (FCC) estimates.

If that happens, the speed of the mobile revolution will slow down. Prices, download times and consumer frustration will all increase. And at a societal level we risk jeopardizing the future of our nation's vital mobile Internet infrastructure, which is generating jobs and investment on a scale well beyond the first Internet boom of the 1990s. If we are to meet our government's expressed goal of providing high-speed wireless services to 98% of all Americans by 2016, we need to better align national policies with national priorities.

Three things need to happen:

1. Require spectrum holders to put the airwaves to work.
2. Quickly get spectrum where consumers need it most.
3. Establish a national model for the local approval process that's required when wireless carriers need to build new mobile infrastructure.