Blog | News & Information on Wireless Services & Telecommunications
Posted: 02/22/12 by Mobile Future Team
In Part 2 of CNN Money’s series on spectrum today, author David Goldman discusses the options for wireless providers as they navigate the dangers of a spectrum crunch. The piece says that without action, millions of wireless consumers could face limited access to the high-speed mobile Internet they demand.
According to Goldman, these options include acquiring new spectrum, building thousands of new cell sites throughout our nation, and consolidation. All three options would cost billions of dollars to implement.
A combination of them may provide the answer to solving the spectrum crunch, but one thing is clear: all wireless providers need more spectrum to continue meeting the explosive growth in demand from more than 300 million American mobile consumers. With a potential spectrum deficit as early as 2013 according to the FCC, the time to act is now and everyone must be part of the solution.
To learn more, click here.
Posted: 02/21/12 by Mobile Future Team
This week CNN Money is taking a close look at America’s looming spectrum crunch. The first article in the week-long series was released today and points to consumer’s insatiable demand for wireless services and technologies as a contributing factor to the growing spectrum deficit.
As David Goldman writes in the article:
“The spectrum crunch is not an inherently American problem, but its effects are magnified here, since the United States has an enormous population of connected users. This country serves more than twice as many customers per megahertz of spectrum as the next nearest spectrum-constrained nations, Japan and Mexico.
When spectrum runs short, service degrades sharply: calls get dropped and data speeds slow down.”
To learn more, click here.
Posted: 02/21/12 by Mobile Future Team
Check out Mobile Future Chairman Jonathan Spalter’s latest op-ed on The Hill on social media’s role in the 2012 races here.
Posted: 02/17/12 by Jonathan Spalter
Today, in the midst of extending a payroll tax cut and unemployment benefits for struggling Americans, lawmakers passed a historic piece of spectrum legislation authorizing the FCC to conduct voluntary incentive auctions, an initiative that will ultimately help spur private investment in mobile broadband infrastructure and create U.S. Jobs. Congress took an important first step toward reallocating more spectrum for mobile broadband to combat a looming capacity crunch exacerbated by exploding consumer demand. They could not have acted a moment too soon.
On the one hand, more than one-third of adults own a smartphone and for the first time in history there are more mobile subscriptions that people in the United States. Additionally, the number of adults who own a tablet or e-reader skyrocketed from 18% to 29% between mid-December and January. From mobile payments to smart grid technologies, digital education initiatives to mobile health applications, wireless is a powerful engine of economic growth and American innovation.
On the other hand, wireless data traffic is expected to grow 100 times faster than mobile voice traffic over the next ten years and an estimated 50 billion devices will be connected worldwide in the same amount of time. Wireless networks in North America are already running at 80% of capacity and the FCC predicts that we will have a spectrum deficiency by 2013.
The important action today on Capitol Hill to enact legislation aimed at repurposing spectrum for wireless rightly acknowledges the ever-increasing benefits of mobile broadband and it has the added advantage of generating revenue for American taxpayers. Mobile Future stands ready to assist the FCC as it begins its work to repurpose spectrum as quickly as possible, while ensuring that all 300 million U.S. wireless consumers have the opportunity to benefit from these additional spectrum resources and continued mobile innovation.
Posted: 02/15/12 by Jonathan Spalter
In the final minutes of Sunday's Superbowl, Eli Manning confidently led his team down the field and into the end zone. Tom Brady, under heavy pressure from the clock, was unable to do the same. One rose to the occasion and found glory. Time ran out for the other, leaving only painful regrets.
Policymakers from the FCC to Capitol Hill now face a similar 'do-or-die' moment for U.S. mobile innovation. It's been more than two years since Federal Communications Commission Chairman warned of a "looming spectrum crisis," and one year since President Obama proclaimed near-universal mobile connectivity essential to the state of our union and made his ambitious call to make available 500 megahertz of spectrum to expand the mobile Internet.
In that time, mobile innovation--and consumer enthusiasm for it--have advanced at a blistering pace. U.S. smartphone shipments now outpace PCs. In the past two years, a whole new category of device has found its way into our backpacks and briefcases. From mid-December to January alone, the number of Americans with a tablet device doubled. One in three of us now own a mobile reading device. No wonder that there are now more wireless subscriptions than people in the U.S.
Against this backdrop of head-spinning innovation, spectrum policy has largely stood still in Washington. Today, U.S. mobile networks run at 80% of capacity, compared to the world average of 65%. As early as next year, according to the FCC, demand for our nation's mobile networks will begin to outstrip current capacity.
At stake is far more than bragging rights and diamond-encrusted rings. For consumers, Washington's failure to move the ball could mean more dropped calls, lost Internet connections, longer download times and--ultimately--a weaker wireless web. As innovation stalls due to inadequate supplies of spectrum, so would the jobs that the wireless community creates and sustains. Mobile innovation today supports 2.4 million Americans' livelihoods. Experts predict that President Obama's call for 500 MHz of additional spectrum can pump $400 billion into the nation's GDP. According to Deloitte, the $151 billion in private sector capital that carriers would need to invest to translate raw spectrum into robust 4G service could create as many 771,000 jobs while another study by economists Rob Shapiro and Kevin Hassett for progressive think tank NDN shows the creation of just over 1.5 million jobs from the transition to 3G networks and predicts similar growth in the transition to 4G.
More spectrum to expand wireless broadband networks is hardly just to accommodate our growing fondness for Angry Birds and Netflix. Mobile Internet has been revolutionary to businesses large and small. From enabling on-the-go financial transactions to making possible major innovations on manufacturing floors, wireless connectivity is boosting our economy and productivity, while opening the door to opportunities for the next generation of tech-minded entrepreneurs. And, population won't limit mobile's growth. By 2020, there could be 50 billion connected devices worldwide--from your child's textbook, to your doctor's medical tablet, to your city bus system and community power grid.
All of this represents progress that benefits our economy and society. But it has to be supported by constructive public policy. Mobile has thrived in this country largely because of bipartisan support for a largely hands-off innovation policy. But now leadership from the nation's capitol is essential to unlock more spectrum to stay in front of rising demand and maintain a world-class wireless web.
There are three key steps:
The first step is acknowledging the problem. The president, the FCC and Capitol Hill leaders all have done so. Their words--but not yet their actions--reflect the urgency of the situation.
Right now, the FCC is waiting on Congress to give the green light to voluntary spectrum auctions. This innovative approach would allow holders of idle spectrum, chief among them broadcasters who now work in a digital environment and can continue to broadcast on other spectrum, to put their spectrum holdings up for public auction and share with the U.S. Treasury in the multi-billion-dollar proceeds.
Here, we hope that no one's writing in Sharpie on the white board. The hold up revolves primarily around a tussle between Congress and the FCC over whether the agency should and can impose restrictions on who can participate in these auctions. U.S. wireless policy has served our nation and our economy well under a light regulatory touch that is neutral, transparent and inclusive.
Where government has stepped in to establish special rules to advantage specific interests, wireless consumers and taxpayers alike have suffered. Now is the time to take idle spectrum off the sidelines and put it into the hands of companies who can and want to build it out to provide more and better wireless broadband services to millions of Americans. Congress needs to establish the policy and the FCC needs to stand ready to promptly implement. One oft overlooked detail is the fact that there will be multiple opportunities to bid on all different kinds of spectrum in auctions with multiple winners, assuming the agency receives the authority to conduct them.
Some argue that only the least popular wireless companies should be able to bid on new spectrum. This suggestion ill-serves the millions of Americans who've decided they prefer the two industry leaders for their wireless broadband connections and devices. Policymakers would be wise to think in terms of all consumers--who should all be eligible for the many benefits of robust mobile broadband. Also, the point is moot.
We also need to keep our options open and turn over every rock. Government, too, should identify and offer up its fallow spectrum.
If Washington fumbles at the 10-yard line, there are many U.S. rivals eager to seize the mantle of mobile leadership. Our citizens are among the most vigorous users of all things wireless--from voice, to texting, to data consumption. And, competition among service providers has triggered $322 billion and counting of private sector investment in our nation's wireless infrastructure.
The next wave of U.S. mobile innovation now waits on Washington. Mobile entrepreneurs and consumers have thrown a perfect spiral down the field. In the now infamous words of Gisele Bundchen, someone's got to catch it.
This article was originally published on Huffington Post.
Posted: 02/15/12 by Mobile Future Team
Cisco’s annual Global Mobile Data Traffic Forecast Update was released yesterday and the analysis points to the extraordinary growth in mobile data and looks ahead at future developments in the wireless space. Some of the key findings from the report are noted below.
In 2011:
Global mobile data traffic grew 133%, more than doubling for the fourth year in a row.
Smartphones generated 35 times more mobile data traffic than basic-feature cell phones, and tablets generated 121 times more mobile data traffic.
The average amount of traffic per smartphone almost tripled, growing 55 MB per month in 2010 to 150 MB per month in 2011.
The number of wireless tablets reached 34 million and used 3.4 times more traffic than the average smartphone.
Looking ahead:
More than 100 million smartphone users will use over 1 GB of data per month by 2012.
In 2016, tablets will generate almost as much traffic as the entire global mobile network in 2012.
To learn more, click here.
Posted: 02/13/12
Today, the Washington Post highlighted that President Obama’s federal budget for fiscal year 2013 is available to the public via mobile app. The Government Printing Office released the app this morning and provides users with important budget information such as the president’s budget message and spending overviews for federal agencies.
To learn more, click here.
Posted: 02/09/12 by Mobile Future Team
A new study out this week highlights the app market's impact on job creation in the United States. According to TechNet, since 2007 the application economy has created about 500,000 jobs.
As President and CEO of TechNet Rey Ramsey stated:
“America’s App Economy – which had zero jobs just 5 years ago before the iPhone was introduced – demonstrates that we can quickly create economic value and jobs through cutting-edge innovation…Today, the App Economy is creating jobs in every part of America, employing hundreds of thousands of U.S. workers today and even more in the years to come.”
To learn more, click here.
Posted: 02/07/12 by Mobile Future Team
State regulators have gathered from across the country this week for the winter meeting of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC) here in Washington. Mobile Future Chairman Jonathan Spalter participated on a lively panel exploring the exploding demand for mobile connectivity, and what a predicted spectrum crunch means for consumers and the nation’s economy.
Consider the benefits of mobile broadband: constant and instant connectivity with people around the world in the palm of your hand. Near limitless possibilities for innovation and investment. In the U.S., one of the crucial benefits of wireless is the impact on the economy. Researchers Robert Shapiro and KevinHassett concluded that transitions from early wireless networks to more advanced 3G and 4G technology led to some 1.5 million new jobs from April 2007 to June 2011. For every additional 10% increase in adoption of 3G and 4G technologies, 231,000 new jobs may be added in less than a year. Plus, with an additional 500 MHz of spectrum for mobile, the Analysis Group conservatively estimates that we can create 500,000 American jobs and add $400 billion to the nation’s GDP. Spectrum is the lifeblood of wireless, becoming more and more vital to our economy and how we conduct our everyday lives.
No one wants to go back to the days of the ‘busy signal.’ If we don’t reallocate more spectrum for wireless now, the capacity constraints could wreak havoc on the consumer experience - more dropped calls, stalled apps, and slow mobile Internet connections. State and federal regulators alike need to support policies that help get spectrum to those who need it the most – the 300 million wireless consumers.
So what can state policymakers do? Some states have the authority to review secondary market transactions within their state. Timely approval of thosetransactions is necessary so providers can swiftly make the best use of thespectrum that is available to them. Additionally, state regulators can help educate local municipalities. Acting as a resource on the capacity constraints of wireless networks may help to smooth tower siting approvals so providers can build out and expand their networks, allowing consumers to continue to enjoy unfettered access to mobile broadband.
State regulators should also encourage their federal counterparts to act now to free more spectrum for mobile. Congress is working on federal legislation authorizing the FCC to conduct incentive auctions and we strongly urge them to enact legislation quickly. As Jonathan said yesterday, “we need to stop playing games; it can take seven to 10 years to put any new spectrum into not only the pipeline but into commercial deployment. We don’t have time to waste.”
Consumers are demanding a mobile future. Policymakers must act now on these opportunities, before the spectrum crunch becomes a reality and millions of Americans are left waiting for many of the advantages mobile broadband can offer.
Posted: 02/03/12 by Mobile Future Team
Mashable recently highlighted a survey by Harris Interactive outlining smartphone users expected mobile activities during Super Bowl XLVI. Almost half of Super Bowl viewers are expected to look at their mobile devices up to ten times during the game and a third of viewers will have their device-in-hand as they watch the game.
To learn more, click here.
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Tags: Broadband, Consumer Awareness, Consumer Benefits, News, Spectrum, Looming Spectrum Crisis