Regulators Need to Open New Spectrum for Mobile Broadband Development, Public Policy Experts Say
New broadband technologies are making spectrum more efficient, but regulators still need to open up more spectrum to meet the rising needs of consumers, said public policy experts on broadband technology during a panel at Pepperdine University Thursday.
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Broadband has the opportunity to transform economic activity because it has indirect effects, said Pepperdine Prof. James Prieger. Based on data from January 2011, 1.5 percent of Americans who live in Census tracts don’t have access to at least one mobile broadband provider, he said. “It becomes a question of choices rather than access. Mobile broadband helps to fill in the gaps in fixed broadband availability.” While it may be hard to prove Americans get better paying jobs, it’s easier to prove the Internet helps people find jobs, he said. “African Americans and Hispanics use less broadband in the United States, but African Americans are more likely than whites to use mobile broadband."
Mobile networks have huge increases in demand for mobile data services, said AT&T Assistant Vice President Richard Clarke. Over the past 30 years, the amount of licensed spectrum increased tenfold, but the amount of traffic increased 100,000 times, and the traffic increase was handled through more efficient use of spectrum, he noted. 4G LTE is 45 percent more efficient than 3G networks and AT&T’s LTE Advanced network will be 35 percent more efficient than 4G, he said. The FCC National Broadband Plan aims to open up 300 MHz of spectrum by 2015 and 500 MHz of spectrum over the next years, but Clarke said this is not enough spectrum to need demands. “We need 560 MHz by 2022 in my calculations, and the unfortunate alternative is an undesirable process that could stunt usage growth and raise prices,” he said.
The FCC should have a limited role in overlapping in antitrust law enforcement with other agencies, said Navigant Economics Managing Director Hal Singer. Antitrust is primarily concerned with the exercise of market power, and there’s little scope for antitrust enforcement given its competitive nature, he said. “Antitrust law isn’t helpful in getting a firm to change its conduct.” Regulators need to retire old networks to use new ones, said Bell-Mason fellow Larry Downes. Internet protocol “networks are better and cheaper, but retiring networks would cause some people to lose their jobs,” he said.