Because every American
should have access
to broadband Internet.

The Internet Innovation Alliance is a broad-based coalition of business and non-profit organizations that aim to ensure every American, regardless of race, income or geography, has access to the critical tool that is broadband Internet. The IIA seeks to promote public policies that support equal opportunity for universal broadband availability and adoption so that everyone, everywhere can seize the benefits of the Internet - from education to health care, employment to community building, civic engagement and beyond.

  • Tuesday, June 18

    Boucher in Roll Call

    By Brad

    In an op-ed for Roll Call, our Honorary Chairman Rick Boucher praises FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel fresh take on spectrum policy, writing:

    FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel… is one official advocating for a more comprehensive approach toward spectrum policy. “To successfully solve this puzzle, we must look at the whole picture. We must address these pieces together,” she said.

    Rosenworcel urges an open process, including public hearings, to set rules for the incentive auction in which TV broadcasters who choose to participate will say how much spectrum they will give up and at what price, so the FCC can then resell that spectrum to wireless providers.

    She also called for speed and a clearly stated timetable so that wireless service providers can plan their spectrum strategy, TV broadcasters can make final decisions about giving up some of their spectrum, and consumers can be confident that wireless services will be reliable.

    “All good deliberations must come to an end,” she explained in calling for a traditional auction of 65 MHz of spectrum in the third quarter of 2014 and the larger incentive auction in the fourth quarter. To make that happen, she said a “bandplan” for assembling the auctioned spectrum must be in place by the third quarter of this year. She has proposed a new approach for spectrum now in the hands of federal government agencies, which control approximately 60 percent of the critical asset.

    You can read Boucher’s full op-ed at Roll Call.

    Monday, June 17

    Mehlman in the Mercury News

    By Brad

    Our own Bruce Mehlman has penned an op-ed for the Silicon Valley Mercury News on the perils of over-regulating the FCC’s upcoming spectrum auction. Here’s a taste:

    In March, 37 senators urged President Barack Obama to appoint Jessica Rosenworcel to chair the Federal Communications Commission. The president instead named the well-qualified venture capitalist and industry veteran Tom Wheeler. Rosenworcel is sure to continue contributing mightily to the FCC as a commissioner, but perhaps the president should consider her for another job—attorney general.

    This is not another criticism of the controversies embroiling the Department of Justice. Rather, Rosenworcel’s real contribution would be to offer a breath of fresh air in economic policy in the department, especially with regard to the dynamic tech marketplace.

    The Justice Department doesn’t get it. Rosenworcel does. And the department’s anachronistic worldview threatens to delay our mobile broadband future.

    You can read the full op-ed over at the Mercury News.

    Friday, June 14

    Hitting the Mobile Broadband Trifecta

    By Jamal Simmons

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    As my colleague Rick Boucher has already stated, the spectrum-related initiatives President Obama announced this morning are a “great step” toward getting mobile broadband providers the airwaves they need in order to meet the demands of their customers. That’s the first nugget of good news.

    The second nugget of good news, which was also included in this morning’s announcement, is the White House’s report on the state of broadband, which highlights just how far our country has come in providing high-speed Internet access to citizens. Some bullet points from the report:

    • In the year 2000, 4.4% of American households had a home connection to broadband; by 2010 that number had jumped to 68%.

    • Broadband networks at a baseline speed of >10 megabits per second now reach more than 94% of U.S. homes.

    • Overall, average delivered broadband speeds have doubled since 2009. In 2012, North America’s average mobile data connection speed was 2.6 Mbps, the fastest in the world, nearly twice that available in Western Europe, and over five times the global average.

    • Annual investment in U.S. wireless networks grew more than 40% between 2009 and 2012, from $21 billion to $30 billion, and exceeds investment by the major oil and gas or auto companies; investment in European wireless networks remained flat during this time period, while wireless investment in Asia (including China) rose only 4%.

    • There are over 500 million Internet-connect devices now in American homes and businesses.

    Those are some impressive numbers, especially on the investment front, and they underscore just how vibrant and competitive the U.S. wireless market really is.

    The numbers also tell us that in order to keep the party lights on, the Federal Communications Commission must pursue policies that encourage investment and innovation. Currently the FCC has two issues burning up its docket. The first is the upcoming spectrum incentive auctions, which need to be transparent and open in order to get the most out of those airwaves. Competition is important – which is already occurring in the telecom market – and so is raising as much money as possible for the U.S. Treasury. Also, we need to ensure companies that can quickly put new spectrum to work powering mobile broadband are in the mix.

    The other issue facing the FCC is the upgrade of America’s wired networks so they are better suited for the Internet age. While the baseline speed of >10 megabits per second cited in the White House’s report is good, we can do better. The upgrade to all-Internet based networks will mean substantially faster broadband in more places, but getting there will require substantial investment. It will also mean a close examination — and potential overhaul — of regulations currently governing our nation’s networks.

    Neither of these issues is insurmountable, but it will take continued partnership between the government and private industry to keep America at the forefront of both wired and mobile broadband. The numbers in the White House report are encouraging. The President’s push to free up more government spectrum is inspiring. Smart policies when it comes to spectrum auctions and network upgrades will help us hit the trifecta.

    Presidential Action on Spectrum

    By Rick Boucher

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    This morning, the White House announced a new series of initiatives aimed at freeing up much-needed spectrum for mobile broadband. From the official White House release:

    Today’s initiatives include a Presidential Memorandum directing Federal agencies to enhance the efficiency of their use of spectrum and make more capacity available to satisfy the skyrocketing demand of consumer and business broadband users. The Memorandum directs agencies to increase their collaboration and data-sharing with the private sector, so a full range of stakeholders can contribute its collective expertise to maximizing spectrum efficiency, including through greater sharing of spectrum between Government and commercial users. These efforts will provide access to more spectrum for wireless broadband providers and equipment vendors as they respond to increasingly rapid consumer adoption of smartphones, tablets, and other wireless devices.

    The Memorandum also calls upon Federal agencies to increase public-private research and development (R&D) activities, emphasize spectrum efficiency in Government system procurements and spectrum assignments, and improve the accuracy and scope of their reporting on spectrum usage. It empowers a White House-based Spectrum Policy Team to oversee implementation of the Memorandum and make further recommendations. At the same time, the Memorandum requires appropriate safeguards to protect Government systems that rely on spectrum to keep Americans safe.

    For spectrum-strapped providers — and the millions of customers they serve — today’s announcement is a great step toward keeping up with demand. But it’s just that, a step. What is urgently needed is a concerted effort to have large swaths of government owned and underutilized spectrum repurposed for commercial auction. Hopefully these new initiatives set us on a path to get there.

    We’ll have more on the President’s announcement later on today.

    Wednesday, June 12

    Save the Date

    By Brad

    Senator Jay Rockefeller has marked June 18 as the day the Senate Commerce Committee will hold its hearing over FCC Chair nominee Tom Wheeler, according to Broadcasting & Cable’s John Eggerton.

    The LTE Leap

    By Brad

    Speaking of mobile data, Phil Goldstein of Fierce Wireless reports that, according to a new report, the age when LTE is the dominant way to connect will soon be here:

    The number of LTE subscribers in the United States will continue to increase markedly over the next few years, with the total number of LTE customers representing 70 percent of all U.S. mobile subscriptions by 2017, according to a new report from research firm Pyramid Research.

    According to an excerpt of the Pyramid report, “USA: Operator Need for LTE Spectrum and Scale to Reshape Telecom Market through M&A,” U.S. LTE subscriptions are expected to reach 262 million by 2017.

    The good news, spectrum-wise, is that LTE is more efficient when it comes to airwaves usage. The troubling news, however, is that as more people jump on the mobile broadband bandwagon, that spectrum efficiency will likely be canceled out by the millions of new users.

    Devices & Data

    By Brad

    Over at TechCrunch, Ingrid Lunden offers a look at some surprising numbers when it comes to mobile broadband use:

    Android has convincingly overtaken Apple as the most popular OS in the smartphone industry both in terms of sales and overall penetration. But when it comes to how much wireless devices are actually used on cellular networks, those who own Apple handsets are disproportionately the biggest users of apps and the mobile web.

    All told, users of the iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, and iPhone 5 account for more than half of all 3G traffic. That’s a lot of iPhone owners online.

    Investing in eHealth

    By Brad

    Via Clint Boulton of the Wall Street Journal, GE is making a big investment in eHealth:

    General Electric Co. Tuesday said it is investing $2 billion over the next five years to build software that could improve operational and clinical processes in the health care industry.

    Hundreds of millions of dollars are at stake as hospitals upgrade their computer systems in order to mee new federal guidelines mandated by the Affordable Health Care Act. GE is hoping to cash in on some of those upgrades by jump-starting the development of health care systems and applications.

    Monday, June 10

    The Necessity of Open Auctions

    By Brad

    Speaking of spectrum and the FCC, in an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal, Robert Hahn and Peter Passell — the former a professor at the University of Oxford, the latter editor of the Milken Institute Review — argue the Commission’s spectrum auctions must be open to all bidders willing to invest and deploy airwaves quickly:

    There is still an important role for the FCC in regulating wireless, but it is limited. The first priority should be making more spectrum available to the highest bidders by accelerating the pace of government auctions. Once spectrum is sold, owners should be free to resell it to other wireless carriers (or to other industries that value it more). For without more bandwidth (and free-market allocation of privately controlled spectrum), access to data-hungry services like HD video will be undermined, along with the incentives to develop the next generation of wireless devices.

    There’s no denying the temptation to intervene on behalf of the underdogs in the marketplace. But the lessons from the long, checkered history of economic regulation are painfully clear: The cures are often worse than the disease.

    For similar thoughts, see this blog post from our Honorary Chairman Rick Boucher.

    Innovation of the Day

    By Brad

    Via Macrina Cooper-White of the Huffington Post comes an amazing — and, arguably, amazingly creepy — new device:

    Imagine being able to control a flying robot with your mind.

    Sounds like a flight of fancy, but researchers at the University of Minnesota have fashioned an electrode-studded cap that records brain waves and uses them to control a “quadcopter” via wi-fi.

    Here’s video of the potentially terrifying robot in action:

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