100 megabit per second connections to 100 million homes.
No question that FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski laid out an ambitious goal this week for nationwide, affordable broadband. Leaving the details aside for the moment, the underlying concept is important: As Mobile Futureconsistently has repeated in this blog, all who care about mobility in the US should agree with Chairman Genachowski, about the urgent need to expand wireless capacity so that mobile users continue to have a good quality of service.
As he said only two months ago:
“There may be no greater spur to America's global competitiveness than getting this right. The record contains powerful evidence that the demand on our commercial mobile spectrum is on a course to outstrip the supply.”
Julius’ pledge, though ambitious, is vitally important. But its implementation also will be very expensive.
To effectively walk his talk, the National Broadband Plan he will be submitting shortly to Congress will need to include coherent and practical policies that actually encourage America’s wireless build-out, and enable the considerable private sector investment needed to support it.
The numbers speak for themselves: More than $300 billion invested in wireless during the past 25 years. And according to NY Times tech columnist Randall Stross, even in an urban setting, a typical wi-fi deployment cost in an urban area runs $75,000 to $125,000 per square mile just to install the equipment. The FCC itself as estimated that some $350 billion in new investment will be required to achieve our nation’s broadband goals.
The Chairman has identified a crucial need, and has offered a bold vision for meeting it. Now the pressure’s on for the FCC – and all of us who care about our mobile future -- to work together in creating innovative policies that will help solve that problem rather than exacerbate it.
The San Francisco Chronicle recently published an op-ed by Mobile Future Chairman Jonathan Spalter outlining the rapid growth of wireless and the need for sound public policy so that innovation and investment will continue.
As wireless connectivity takes on an even more central role in our economy and our society, we must acknowledge that we have come so far, so fast primarily because of the decisions of consumers and the vision of innovators, rather than the interventions of government. There is so much potential still to unleash, if we chart a constructive and balanced path forward.
The Duluth News Tribune in Minnesota recently published an op-ed piece by Mobile Future Advisor Diane Smith. The piece details Diane’s success as an entrepreneur in rural America, and the many ways that technology helps small business and promotes economic opportunity.
The wireless sector employs nearly 2.7 million Americans - from applications developers to retail store workers to network engineers - and contributes $100 billion annually to our nation's economy. In the last year alone, wireless companies have invested more than $20 billion in networks that are expanding opportunities for the next generation of connected businesses.
Question: What do the following have in common: a state sales tax, a local sales tax, three transportation surcharges, a 911 fee, a utilities tax, an excise tax and a franchise tax?
Answer: They're all state and local fees paid by New York's mobile phone users.
Fortunately, U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner is among those willing to say, Enough is enough. Weiner tells the New York Daily News that Big Apple mobile users pay 10 state and city taxes and fees - more than any other city in the nation. Combined, he says, this adds about 16 percent to the mobile phone bill. Among U.S. cities, only Chicago adds on a higher amount, with a 19 percent total.
Last Friday ushered in the holiday shopping season, and while
consumers were clamoring for the best bargain, this year they had a new
tool in their artillery - their cell phone.
With an array of smartphone choices from the Palm Pre to the iPhone,
several new Blackberry models, and the Droid - never before have
Americans had so many options at their disposal. That's not to mention
the proliferation of retail m-commerce sites, and applications that can
help you navigate stores, compare prices and even send coupons straight to your mobile phone. For customers, cell phones have become the ultimate aid in savvy shopping.
The Wall Street Journal reported that on Black Friday, "mobile online payments through PayPal surged 650%" and mobile searches grew to 200,000 from around 5,000 in 2008.
This is good news for retailers, but more importantly it signals that
2009 is likely to be seen as a tipping point for the mobile web.
Today, nearly 40 percent of new phone sales are smartphones, a
figure that will surely rise with the current holiday promotions. And a
recent report projects that by 2011 a majority of phones in the U.S.
will be connected smartphones that put PC-like functionalities in the palm of your hand.
"[S]martphone users are no longer just reading e-mail or
scheduling appointments but also surfing the Web, streaming video and
music, downloading games, and snapping pictures. Smartphones are now
seen more by consumers as minicomputers than as cell phones."
This is a giant step forward for U.S. connectivity and greatly
beneficial to American consumers, but it also raises key questions for
federal policymakers.
With the surge in smartphone adoption and mobile web usage, wireless data traffic in North America is expected to double every year between 2008 and 2013.
If this forecast holds true, it means that we are facing what FCC
Chairman Julius Genachowski calls a 'looming spectrum crisis.' The FCC
needs to take action by opening up new wireless spectrum. Thankfully,
Chairman Genachowski recognizes this challenge and is taking steps to
address it.
However, as we witnessed with the last auctions, the path to
spectrum allocation can be a lengthy and bureaucratic process, and
consumers also need more immediate solutions. Wireless network
management helps ensure as seamless a consumer experience as possible,
no matter how busy the wireless networks become. As we seek solutions
to address exponentially increasing mobile usage, we should keep in
mind the constructive policies and engineering practices that made this
growth possible in the first place.
As evidenced this Black Friday, wireless innovation is working for
America. When considering policy changes, the FCC must first do no
harm. Government policies should support mobile's still-nascent
potential and growth, but consumer choices and mobile innovation should
guide wireless' bright future.
In recent years, we've grown accustomed to using our phones to make dinner reservations, buy movie tickets, find our way around town and stay connected to our friends on our favorite social networking sites.
Sending a text, downloading a new app or playing a game are ways that we use our phones everyday to improve our lives, and the U.S. State Department has taken notice. The State Department is now using this technology as a tool to promote its mission of fostering diplomacy around the globe.
A recent article on the Washington Post's Post Tech details the efforts being taken by the State Department:
In Congo, e-mails and text messages are being used to warn women and children of attacking rebels nearby. In sub-Saharan Africa, text messages are instructing people how to take HIV medications. In Iran, an online video from President Obama to Iranians on their new year went viral.
The State Department is taking the technology we use to stay connected to discourage violence, promote mobile banking and build bridges among nations. And though this is an innovative approach, they've also had help.
Ali Reza Manouchehri's company Metro Star Systems was contracted by the State Department to craft mobile phone programs to better inform citizens around the world about America.
Manouchehri said the choice of the mobile phone was only natural thanks to its ubiquity, which includes less-developed countries. Even in a poor household, a family might share a common mobile phone for family use, he said. The hope, Manouchehri says, is to form "spontaneous communities" of people having fun and learning about America, connected around the world via a cellular network.
By using simple technologies like games and text messages, Manouchehri and other creative minds are helping connect cultures and promote better understanding among nations.
Everyday our phones make our lives better - it's exciting to see how they can make our world better.
Back in August, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC)
approved three Notice of Inquiries (NOI) covering issues on innovation and
investment in wireless; competition in the wireless industry; and consumer
protection and access to information about communications services. Mobile
Future took the opportunity to respond to the FCC's investigations with reply
comments filed on behalf of the coalition. The reply comments focused on the recent paper
sponsored by Mobile Future, "Why the iPhone Won't Last Forever and What the
Government Should Do to Promote Its Successor." You can read Mobile Future's
comments here.
At this week's Mobile Future forum on President Obama's Innovation Agenda, Tom Kalil of the White House Office of Science & Technology Policy spoke. Watch it below:
"We're in the adolescence of the mobile and wireless revolution," said White House policy expert Tom Kalil, as he began his discussion of wireless issues and federal policy at today's Mobile Future luncheon in Washington.
Kalil, the Deputy Director for Policy in the Office of Science and Technology, said the Obama Administration understood and respected the immense economic and social benefits of a burgeoning wireless industry. "We want to create the right policy environment for private sector investment," he said, adding that "[Wireless] innovation is a powerful tool to address the broad range of challenges we face."
As an example, he cited mobile healthcare - "a really promising area." He also cited the power of wireless in connection with other advances such as nanotechnology, which will soon put the entire contents of the Library of Congress on a device the size of a sugar cube.
At a subsequent panel discussion, Debbie Goldman, an economist with the Communications Workers of America, discussed the linkage between wireless investment and union jobs. "There are 45,000 union workers in the wireless industry," she said. "Telecom networks are good employment opportunities that offer good career jobs for [union workers]."
Also on the panel was Citi Investment Research analyst Michael Rollins, who discussed the relationship between industry investment and government regulation. "In the telecom industry, you deal with long-life assets," he said. That makes changes in regulation a cause for great concern.
Also presenting at the luncheon were economists Robert Hahn and Hal Singer, who discussed the economic implications of exclusive mobile handset contracts between manufacturers and wireless carriers. To access their paper, please click here: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1477042
Mobile Future staff, as well as several attendees, are live-tweeting today's Mobile Future event at the Newseum in Washington, DC. Click here to see their tweets in real-time.
The event, "President Obama's Innovation Agenda: Spurring Investment and Innovation in the Wireless Sector," features Tom Kalil of the White House Office of Science & Technology Policy, Bob Hahn, Senior Fellow at the Georgetown Center and Visiting Senior Fellow at Oxford's Smith School, and Hal Singer, President and Managing Director of Empiris.
The forum will conclude with a panel discussion moderated by Mobile Future Chairman Jonathan Spalter and featuring Tom Kalil, Debbie Goldman of the Communications Workers of America, and Mike Rollins of Citi Investment Research.
In 2007, approximately 14 million Americans recycled their used cell phones, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. Environmentally-conscious consumers and companies are leading the charge to reduce America’s e-waste.
In recent years, wireless users have become a favorite target for new state and local taxes. Today, state and local taxes and fees average about 14 percent of consumers’ mobile phone bills.
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Tags: Broadband, FCC, Mobile Future, Mobile Future Board, Jonathan Spalter, National Broadband Plan, Net Neutrality, Wireless Broadband, Wireless Innovation