Top of mind for us at Mobile Future were some of the remarks from my former boss, Decker Anstrom, a telecom industry veteran who was selected to lead the U.S. delegation to the 2012 World Radio Conference earlier this year.

In his comments, Decker couldn’t have put it any more clearly:  “Anyone who tries to deny a spectrum crunch isn't listening to what every telecommunications leader in the world is saying . . .  Everyone is asking for more mobile broadband spectrum.”

Here in the U.S., we’ve seen a huge spike in consumer demand for all things mobile – from using more data demanding wireless devices to improve access to healthcare and facilitate digital learning initiatives to significantly driving new economic opportunities, wireless services play a critical role in connecting us. However, the FCC predicts we could max out on existing spectrum capacity as early as next year.

This is an issue our leaders need to take seriously and they must act soon. This week, Mobile Future Chairman Jonathan Spalter sent a letter to new White House CTO Todd Park and Gene Sperling, National Economic Council Director, urging the President and his team to show strong leadership to help repurpose un- or under-utilized government spectrum assets for mobile.

As Decker explained, telecom leaders around the world are all clearly focused on the problem. Last year, the President set us on the right course with his bold wireless initiative but we need to keep the ball rolling now to free up more spectrum for mobile ensure a bright future for U.S. wireless users.

Some of the key statistics from the report include:

• In March, the average mobile Facebook user spent at least 7 hours on Facebook either through their mobile browser or Facebook app.
• There are 25.6 million mobile Twitter users and the average user spent about 2 hours on Twitter via a mobile device in March, compared to merely 20.4 minutes on Twitter via a computer.
• Mobile Pinterest users reached 7.5 million and in March users spent an average of one hour on Pinterest via a mobile device.

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The Mobile Future Grandstand Dashboard will be on display in the Mobile Future booth at the show as well as available online. It updates every few seconds to show various tweets and Twitpics from the show. It also will track the most influential tweeters based on their Klout scores, the number of total tweets and the number of tweets per hour during the show.

 “While the mobile community is meeting in New Orleans next week, many of the most compelling conversations will be discussed and broadcast in real-time over mobile platforms and devices,” explained Jonathan Spalter, chairman of Mobile Future.

“The Mobile Future Grandstand dashboard offers a convenient way for attendees and the broader wireless technology community to keep tabs on the conversations taking place over Twitter and to monitor the trends driving the show.”

To view the Grandstand Dashboard, click here.

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Mobile Future Chairman Jonathan Spalter responded to the legislation, stating:

“We applaud the introduction of this legislation that will free up prime swaths of under-utilized wireless spectrum currently held by the U.S. government that can be repurposed to meet exploding consumer demand for mobile broadband.  With more wireless connections than people in our country and North American wireless networks running at 80% of capacity, it is imperative that more spectrum be brought online quickly so Americans can achieve the wireless connectivity they expect and demand. Freeing up government spectrum will help mitigate the spectrum crunch that is threatening to paralyze the vibrant wireless ecosystem that is fueling our 21^st century economy. We appreciate the Subcommittee recognizing the urgency of making additional wireless spectrum available to fuel our technology-driven economy, and we strongly urge lawmakers to act quickly to spur continued investment and new economic opportunities.”

To read the whole statement, click here.

We also are seeing a sharp increase in consumers viewing programming online, and Congress this week is holding a hearing on Internet video. Changing consumer habits and demands to use innovative services and products will drive even more data traffic over already congested wireless networks and could cause even more heartburn for network operators and wireless users. 

Today, there are already more wireless subscriptions than people in the U.S. as consumers continue adopting mobile products, services and technologies at a record clip.  This explosion in wireless data growth is straining network capacity. In fact, the Federal Communications Commission predicts mobile network demands will exceed current spectrum capacity as early as next year.  In 2011 alone, wireless data traffic grew more than 130% and looking ahead, Cisco predicts there will be 2 billion networked mobile devices in the U.S. by 2015.  A snapshot of consumer usage and demand foretells a continued and escalating network capacity strain. Since apps were first introduced five years ago, for example, more than 25 billion apps have been downloaded from Apple’s app store alone. And according to Flurry, there were 25 billion Android and iOS downloads in 2011.  That’s a 300% increase from 2010.  Consumers want individualized entertainment; Pandora launched in 2000 and today more than 100 million people in the United States have registered to use the personalized radio stations.  Merchants want seamless and wireless options to collect payments; Square, which offers businesses a wireless point of sale for accepting credit cards, was founded in 2009 and today boasts more than 800,000 customers. 

With consumers increasingly streaming video and music, sharing high-resolution photographs and downloading gaming apps, it is not surprising we are taxing network capacity. North American wireless networks already are running at 80 percent capacity, compared to 65 percent for the rest of the world, as operators work around the clock to squeeze as much capacity as possible out of the networks.  Back in 1984, for example, there were just 599 cell towers in the U.S. Today, there are over 256,000.  And the networks keep evolving, maximizing capacity and delivering faster speeds. In fact, by 2014, the number of 4G LTE users in the United States will exceed the number of LTE subscribers in Europe and Asia combined.

For its part, the wireless innovation community is working hard to meet this technical challenge. Since 1985, wireless network providers alone have invested over $322 billion to build out and upgrade our nation’s wireless networks.  Those same providers have committed tens of billions of research and development dollars to advance new technologies that can maximize efficiency and upgrade our country’s mobile infrastructure to meet booming demand. The fact is, however, neither innovators, nor technology, nor venture capital alone can solve the looming constraints on our wireless networks. To keep pace with growing consumer demand, more mobile spectrum must be brought online quickly. Spectrum fuels wireless connectivity, but the nation's wireless networks are shuddering under consumer demand. Today, policymakers are being challenged to make more spectrum available for mobile and help enable robust wireless network investment and innovation.  This duty falls squarely in the government’s wheelhouse.  One year ago, President Obama set the right goal in his State of the Union Address: Connecting 98% of America to the opportunities of the high-speed mobile Internet.  Now it’s time for government leaders to step up and deliver by eliminating barriers to investment and advancing policies that encourage the rapid deployment of high-speed mobile broadband.

The wireless community has made a massive down payment on the nation's mobile future—and our innovation community stands to do far more. Now it’s time for government to act to ensure the vibrant experience 300 million American wireless consumers have come to expect and will continue to demand.

To watch the hearing, click here.

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This article was originally published on Huffington Post.

The U.S. government is starting the process now to reallocate both broadcast and government spectrum for mobile use, but the process will take years. The wireless community –network providers, handset manufacturers, app developers – are all working hard to meet the insatiable consumer demand for all things mobile, but now it's time for government to act as quickly as possible to free up more spectrum for mobile. 

To learn more, click here.

The webinar looks at:

• The promising and extensive opportunities in the digital device decade
• The technologies that are driving the connected device revolution
• The policy choices for enabling a brighter future beginning with making more spectrum available
• The five key steps for harnessing connected devices for societal gains

Follow #m2mwebinar on Twitter during the webinar for live tweets from @mobilefuture, key takeaways and insights from the m2m community, and an opportunity to share your own thoughts.

To learn more and register for the webinar, click here.

Check out the full infographic here

Mobile Future Chairman Jonathan Spalter responded to the report, stating:

“With more wireless connections than people in our country and North American wireless networks running at 80% of capacity, it is imperative more mobile spectrum be brought online quickly so American consumers retain the level of wireless connectivity they expect and demand. Freeing up underutilized government spectrum will help mitigate the spectrum crunch that could soon stall the vibrant wireless ecosystem fueling our 21^st century economy.

NTIA's new report is a good step in this urgent effort to serve the growing mobile needs of American consumers, and to avoid the looming spectrum crisis. We commend NTIA for its efforts and look forward to working with the Administration in the months ahead to repurpose government spectrum to the best and highest use for American consumers and the economy as swiftly as possible. To maintain the nation’s global leadership in mobile innovation and opportunity, there is no time to waste.”

To read the full statement, go here.

To learn more, click here.

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Looking ahead, Cisco predicts there will be 2 billion networked mobile devices in the U.S. by 2015. With exploding demand for new devices and services, wireless networks are shuddering under unprecedented usage. As wireless adoptions accelerate at a blistering pace, both network operators and policymakers are scrambling to make more spectrum, the radio waves that connect mobile devices, available to stay one step ahead of consumer demand for all things wireless.

Let's take a closer look at the numbers. Since the iPhone debuted in 2007, AT&T reports that traffic on the company's wireless network increased an astonishing 20,000%. Siri, the omniscient voice of the iPhone 4S, devours bandwidth -- using twice as much data as the iPhone 4 and nearly three times as much as the iPhone 3G. And it's not just the iPhone. Today, consumers can choose from over 400 smartphones on the market, with U.S. smartphone shipments now outpacing PCs.

The staggering reliance on wireless devices is leading to a massive spectrum drain. Tablet devices are redefining the wireless ecosystem, with one in three Americans now owning a mobile reading device. New generations of these ubiquitous tablets are further draining the spectrum inventory. The new iPad, for instance, supports faster 4G mobile networks that deliver impressive data speeds -- and suck up spectrum.

With one billion apps downloaded worldwide each month in 2011, consumers are doing more on their mobile devices leading experts to predict that wireless data traffic will grow 100 times faster than mobile voice traffic over the next 10 years. This is a thrilling future but only if our wireless networks have the capacity to handle the surge in consumer demand and usage. Here's a startling fact that causes us concern: North American mobile networks already are running at 80% of capacity, compared to the world average of 65%.

When you consider the blazing fast speeds needed for streaming video, accessing audio, capturing high-resolution photographs and downloading gaming apps, it is not surprising consumers are taxing mobile networks and the spectrum that fuels them, at unprecedented rates. Given the staggering demand, it is equally predictable that the finite resource that is spectrum is rapidly becoming a very rare commodity.

The FCC published its National Broadband Plan in 2010, followed by President Obama's National Wireless Initiative a year later, both calling for an additional 500 MHz of spectrum for mobile in the next 10 years as an answer to the spectrum crunch. Policymakers have since been at work trying to realize these goals. For instance, President Obama and Congress recently passed legislation authorizing the FCC to conduct voluntary incentive auctions aimed at reclaiming broadcast spectrum for mobile. The NTIA is also studying various spectrum bands used by the government that may be repurposed for commercial use. Secondary market transactions and efficiently maximizing spectrum use round out the work carriers are doing independently to deal with a potential spectrum deficiency, all with a goal of ensuring a quality wireless experience for all U.S. consumers.

Today, policymakers have an opportunity to transform challenges into opportunities by adopting policy prescriptions that make more spectrum available for mobile and enable robust wireless investment and innovation. Policymakers cannot keep pace with the innovation we see in the mobile sector but they must act swiftly and make freeing up more spectrum for mobile a top priority. Consumers deserve -- and will demand -- continued access to the latest and greatest technologies that place the power of information in the palms of their hands. To make the mobile future as bright as possible, the 300 million American wireless consumers and a growing chorus of small businesses now depend on Washington to answer their call.

This article was originally published on Huffington Post.

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As GSMA Director General Anne Bouverot stated in the article:

“Clearly, as the economic indicators show, the mobile industry is a success story, particularly in light of the lingering worldwide economic crisis. Perhaps even more powerful, though, is how mobile is transforming adjacent industries, such as education, health care, payments and transactions, transportation and utilities. Mobile is connecting the world as no other technology has before."

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The author came up with four fixes:

- Employing cell splitting techniques to reuse spectrum

- Utilizing existing spectrum more efficiently

- Relieving network congestion using Wi-Fi offloading and tiered service models

- Allocating more spectrum for mobile

Millions of Americans are embracing mobile broadband, as shown by the explosive consumer demand and more than 100% growth in data traffic over the past year.  The mobile community has responded with continued investment and innovation, already employing many of the remedies mentioned in today’s article.  Unfortunately, those steps won't be enough for long. Policymakers are working to reallocate more spectrum for mobile, but the spectrum clock is ticking and 300 million wireless consumers will be the ones possibly left in the lurch. We need to keep moving to ensure continued investment, innovation and vast consumer benefits in the mobile space.

To learn more, click here.

A spectrum deficiency looms in the near future that could cripple this experience, but making more spectrum available for mobile quickly will help address this challenge. As today's CNN piece clearly shows,  hundreds of millions of consumers are increasingly using mobile broadband. This rapidly growing demand is straining the networks of the mobile providers who will all need more spectrum in the near future.

For more information, click here.