A Plan Worth Praising

By Bruce Mehlman

Spectrum has been called the “oxygen of the wireless world,” and with FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski warning America is facing a spectrum crisis due to the explosive growth of wireless broadband, today’s release of a plan from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (PDF) to free up more spectrum is critical. From the announcement by U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke and Larry Summers, director of the White House National Economic Council in the Wall Street Journal:

Rarely is there an opportunity to simultaneously catalyze private-sector investment, help create hundreds of thousands of new jobs, and increase much needed government revenue. President Obama is seizing just such an opportunity with his commitment to nearly double the amount of available commercial wireless spectrum over the next 10 years. Today, the Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) will take the first step by announcing a plan to free up 115 megahertz (MHz) of spectrum.

Given wireless broadband’s potential not just in job creation and innovation, but in helping close America’s digital divide, we praise the Obama administration and NTIA for taking this important step.