White House rallies support for spectrum auctions

The White House ramped up the pressure on Congress to move ahead with auctions of the nation’s airwaves, arguing the step is crucial for economic growth.

Administration officials outlined their case for devoting a larger swath of the airwaves to mobile broadband, saying policies to promote communication on tablets and smart phones will also create jobs and reduce the deficit. "The issues of spectrum and of wireless communications are going to be essential to our growth," said Austan Goolsbee, chairman of the President’s Council of Economic Advisers, adding that the revenue from the auctions could help reduce the deficit. The officials said airwave auctions are the way to help all Americans gain access to the mobile Internet, which was one of the goals outlined in President Obama’s State of the Union address. Goolsbee said the increasing use of broadband requires the government to confront a "major challenge:" a spectrum crunch that could occur as more people use iPads and BlackBerries to watch video and surf the Web.