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Most Recent PostsThe Long Process
Last week, the FCC announced it was ready to kick off the spectrum incentive auction process. That’s the good news. The potential bad news — for wireless providers and consumers — comes courtesy of Cecilia Kang of the Washington Post:
The FCC kicked off its much-anticipated plans to auction broadcast television spectrum for mobile wireless networks. Here’s our story in Friday’s paper.
But it will be years before your iPhone or Galaxy feels the difference, analysts said. That’s because of the long regulatory process ahead at the FCC to get the auction up and running and then make those airwaves available to winners.
According to an analyst Kang quotes, if the FCC’s plan is approved by the end of September, auctions won’t take place until 2014. After that, it could take up until 2016 for spectrum to be put to use easing congestion on wireless networks.
Still, with new airwaves-hungry devices arriving each day — and more and more Americans embracing the power of mobile broadband — any movement to provide more spectrum is a step in the right direction.
