The wireless broadband revolution can only be fully realized if the government implements policies that encourage continued investment and innovation in mobile broadband. Happily, last week saw critical progress by the government in the right direction.
On Friday President Obama released a Memorandum, titled “Expanding America’s Leadership in Wireless Innovation,” which calls on federal agencies to free up or share unused spectrum for commercial purposes. This Presidential Memorandum comes on the one year anniversary of President Obama’s last broadband executive order, which focused on using federal land to increase national broadband access.
This latest memorandum is a big step forward for enabling wireless broadband providers to meet rapidly expanding consumer demand for spectrum, and for reaching the goals set out in the 2010 National Broadband Agenda. As the number of smartphone subscribers increased 99 percent in the last two years, now reaching over half of the U.S. population, mobile broadband providers are in danger of reaching capacity with their current spectrum allotments.
Last week also saw some activity in Congress to promote broadband investment, with Reps. Lofgren and Franks re-introducing the Wireless Tax Fairness Act. The Act would place a five-year moratorium on tax increases on state and local wireless broadband taxes, giving companies and consumers a tax reprieve that could encourage more wireless broadband adoption and investment.
As we’ve written before, we are in a data-driven economy, and mobile data-driven activities are an area of tremendous investment and innovation. Our most recent U.S. Investment Heroes report found that telecom and cable companies were among the largest investors in the United States, based on their 2011 U.S. capital expenditures.
Finally, the goal of facilitating the revolution in mobile broadband was echoed last week by FCC Commissioners Pai and Rosenworcel and NTIA Assistant Secretary for Communications Larry Strickling. Discussing mobile broadband policy at the National Cable and Telecommunications Association’s (NCTA) annual “Cable Show,” their focus was on the future instead of regulating the past. There was not a question of if wireless broadband would transform areas like education and public safety, but when and what the government could do to enable it.
Let’s hope the progress we’ve seen over the last week continues in the year to come.
