Blog | News & Information on Wireless Services & Telecommunications
Posted: 04/16/10 by Mobile Future Team
Morgan Stanley Internet and mobile trend analyst, Mary Meeker, described the pace of mobile innovation as "unprecedented, I think, in world history" while speaking at a conference for Chief Information Officers.
She also pointed to devices like iPhone and Android that are changing how we communicate and the flourishing U.S. apps ecosystem. Meeker predicted that "the innovation in the mobile internet is going to be right here in the United States of America for quite a while."
Meeker contends that mobile innovation will completely outpace the desktop Internet in terms of adoption rates over time.
Check out this graph from a Morgan Stanley report released earlier this year that makes the case:
Posted: 04/15/10 by Molly Kocour
Congress is making progress on important legislation that is near and dear to Mobile Future's heart - the Radio Spectrum Inventory Act. This week, the House passed the bill, which is co-sponsored by Rep. Rick Boucher (D-Va.), and charges the Federal Communications Commission and the National Telecommunications & Information Administration to account how and where private stakeholders are using spectrum. It is expected to be passed by the Senate and signed into law soon. Mobile Future Chairman Jonathan Spalter issued the following statement in response to the bill's passage:
“We applaud the passage of the Radio Spectrum Inventory Act in the House. With wireless Internet usage projected to grow at 100 times the rate of wireless voice traffic over the next 10 years, spectrum is a precious resource. The passage of this bill helps pave the way to make more spectrum available quickly and responsibly to keep pace with consumer demand and enable the next wave of mobile innovation and economic opportunities.”
You can read more about spectrum here.
Posted: 04/15/10 by Mobile Future Team
FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski issued a statement last Thursday outlining the Commission’s ongoing efforts to achieve the much-applauded National Broadband Plan (NBP).
"We are putting the National Broadband Plan into action," said FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski. "The Commission's Bureaus and Offices have already begun executing on the strategy the National Broadband Plan lays out to connect all Americans to broadband, unleash innovation and investment, enable job creation, and ensure a bright future of economic opportunity and prosperity."
And to ensure these goals — employment, continued innovation and investment, the FCC must tread carefully among potential regulation landmines. We want to nurture the broadband sector, which has been a tremendous boon to our country and economy — not stifle it with unnecessary roadblocks.
Posted: 03/16/10 by Jonathan Spalter
Cross-posted from Huffington Post
Heading into the mid-term elections, these are divisive times in the nation's capital. But today Washington witnessed a rare moment of comity, as the Federal Communications Commission released its much-anticipated National Broadband Plan. All five commissioners signed a joint statement embracing the broad objectives of the plan.
It will take days, if not weeks, for the various stakeholders to fully digest a blueprint of this ambition and scope. But before the detail-oriented debates ensue -- and the inevitable divisions emerge -- it's worth taking a moment to step back and offer an appreciation of the process that got us to this potentially historic day.
President Obama was elected on the promise of inclusive and connected government. In crafting this plan, the FCC offered a compelling model of how that gets done. The efforts of Chairman Genachowski and his broadband team have been exceptionally open. The three dozen policy workshops on topics ranging from civic engagement to connected health were webcast live and archived online, allowing ample opportunity for citizen engagement. Several dealt exclusively with the potential of mobile broadband, ranging from thoughtful debates on spectrum to discussions of bleeding-edge applications and wireless deployment. Commissioners also reached outside the beltway, holding nine field hearings throughout the country to bring diverse perspectives into the conversation.
As for the product itself, I am heartened that the Commission recognizes the critical role wireless technology can play to spur global competitiveness, innovation and sustainable job creation. Profoundly significant to mobile consumers and innovators alike is the vow to free up 500 megahertz of wireless spectrum. This is essential progress to support the boom in connected devices -- from the iPhone to the Kindle to mobile medical tablets, digital textbooks and future innovations yet to be imagined.
Other regulatory proceedings that may flow out of the plan could be more polarizing. The depth of division and passion on both sides of the net neutrality regulatory debate is well-known. And, the rumors of an attempt to overturn the Supreme Court's landmark Brand X decision, which essentially upheld the privatized nature of U.S. broadband networks, would likely make the net neutrality debate look like a walk in the park.
Likewise, narrower proposals to create new rules -- whether to impose wholesaling requirements or mandate the provision of "free" broadband services -- would affect many aspects of the already intensively competitive and innovative wireless market and could actually undermine the very laudable objectives of the national broadband plan. The FCC must resist these extreme calls and tread carefully to avoid disrupting an American industry that leads the world and is working extremely well today.
Among the cornerstones of the plan is a 'shoot for the moon' goal of connecting 100 million U.S. households to 100 megabits per second broadband service over the next decade. Goals of this ambition require an unshakeable policy foundation that is unequivocally supportive of investment. This means the many rulemakings that likely flow out of this plan must be cohesive in nature -- pulling in the same constructive and unifying direction and staying true to the Chairman's early and firm commitment to fact-based, data-driven decisions.
As we look to the future, I hope the Chairman remains steadfast in his commitment to encouraging a wireless ecosystem that can fundamentally transform our society and our economy. As we begin the long and hard process of translating bold ideas into concrete, attainable and constructive actions, the hard work is yet ahead. It is my hope that we stay true to this open and participatory process and keep in sight the larger goals of advancing deployment, accelerating investment and promoting genuine competition.
History will judge this plan on its effectiveness. If it does so favorably, a nod is due to the process that got us to this day. It's a famous old adage in Washington that you don't want to see the sausage being made. But thanks to the very innovation we unite today to celebrate and advance, a new era of openness and participatory government has arrived.
Jonathan Spalter, chairman of Mobile Future, has been founding CEO of leading technology, media, and research companies, including Public Insight, Snocap, and Atmedica Worldwide. He served as an advisor to and spokesperson for Vice President Al Gore during the Clinton administration. www.mobilefuture.org.
Posted: 03/16/10 by Mobile Future Team
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, the Federal Communications Commission released a National Broadband Plan, as directed by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, designed to stimulate economic growth, spur job creation, foster innovation and investment, and improve education, health care, energy efficiency, homeland security and more.
The following statement should be attributed to Jonathan Spalter, chairman of Mobile Future:
"We commend Chairman Genachowski and the broadband team at the FCC for demonstrating the vision and leadership required to tackle the challenging task of creating a National Broadband Plan. We are particularly heartened that the Commission recognizes the critical role wireless technology must play in charting a clear path forward and the need to identify additional spectrum to spur global competitiveness, innovation and sustainable high quality job creation.
We encourage the Chairman to remain steadfast in his commitment to encouraging a wireless ecosystem that holds the promise of fundamentally transforming our society and our economy. As the FCC moves toward the Plan's implementation, we urge the Chairman to continue along this bold roadmap to America's future by avoiding barriers that slow deployment, undermine investment, and stifle competition and innovation."
Posted: 02/19/10 by Jonathan Spalter
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 Future consistently 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.
Posted: 02/12/10 by Mobile Future Team
CNN has an interesting commentary from Larry Rosen, Cal-State psychology professor and author of a new book which explores how Americans of different generations approach new technology.
Rosen cites a recent Neilsen Mobile survey showing that from 2007 to 2009, the number of texts sent by the average teen increased by more than 600 percent. “If you have a teenager (or even a preteen),” he writes, “You must learn how to text, or you two will never ‘connect.’”
More generally, he says, America’s youngest two generations “are defined not by a letter or by their birth year but by their use of technology and media, their need and ability to multitask, their rapid acceptance of anything new and their view of the meaning of technology.” Any way you look at this, it means more texts, more social networking, more streaming videos – increasingly on a mobile network.
For more of Rosen's CNN commentary, click here.
Posted: 01/25/10 by Mobile Future Team
A House Energy and Commerce panel recently approved legislation calling for an inventory of the nation’s airwaves, in an effort to identify how airwaves are being used, according to a recent Wall Street Journal article.
This is an important step toward identifying unused spectrum, which may be freed up or auctioned off to increase wireless spectrum.
"Additional spectrum for wireless services will be needed and will be needed soon," said Rep. Rick Boucher (D., Va.), chairman of the House subcommittee. An inventory of the nation's airwaves would be helpful in "revealing areas where relocations could occur or where spectrum sharing could be feasible," he said.
We are encouraged by these efforts to begin addressing our nation’s looming spectrum crisis and hope that Congress will continue to work quickly in passing this important bi-partisan legislation.
You can read the WSJ article here.
Posted: 01/20/10
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.
You can read Jonathan’s op-ed here.
Posted: 01/14/10 by Mobile Future Team
Today, Mobile Future released a new report assessing the implications of potential network neutrality regulations on wireless consumers and the networks which support them.
The report, "Net Neutrality Regulatory Proposals: Operational and Engineering Implications for Wireless Networks and the Consumers They Serve,” provides an important technical perspective on the impact net neutrality regulatory proposals will have on the wireless services consumers demand and operators provide. Find out more about the release and read the report.
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Tags: Mobile Broadband, Wireless Broadband, Wireless Innovation