Category Archives: Wireless

The Effect of Spectrum Exhaust on Mobile Market Structure and Performance…

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In an effort to address the current spectrum crunch for commercial spectrum, Congress is working on legislation to empower the FCC to hold voluntary incentive auctions to facilitate the transfer spectrum from broadcasters to mobile carriers.  FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, among others, are complaining loudly that the House version of the bill unduly constricts the FCC’s ability to manipulate the mobile industry by excluding some bidders from the auction (primarily the nation’s two most successful wireless firms that a little more than half of all Americans have chosen as their wireless carrier).  As Larry explained in a post dated January Continue Reading »

Data Roaming, Spectrum Auctions, and the Widening of the Broadband Credibility Gap…

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As I noted in my January 17th blog post, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski is complaining loudly that the bill now pending before the House Energy & Commerce Committee would unduly constrict the agency’s ability to condition any voluntary incentive auction for much-needed beachfront broadcast spectrum.  Recently, former FCC Chairman Reed Hundt came to his protégé’s defense, noting that: no one will benefit if Congress insists on telling the FCC—as the House bill does—who is eligible to bid or how the auction should be conducted. To have an efficient, fair, unpoliticized, neutral, pro-market auction the FCC should continue to be an Continue Reading »

Why GigaOM has it Wrong on the Comcast/Verizon Spectrum Deal…

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This past Sunday, Kevin Fitchard wrote a piece in GigaOm entitled If Comcast Can’t Make It in the Wireless Biz, Who Can?  In this piece, Mr. Fitchard laments that Comcast’s decision to sell its AWS spectrum to, and enter into a joint marketing agreement with, Verizon, rather than construct their own 4G network, “raises some troubling questions about the state of the U.S. wireless industry.”  According to Mr. Fitchard, “if a company with a $71 billion market cap and deep roots in the telecom service provider business can’t make a go of the wireless business, what hope is there for Continue Reading »

Final Thoughts on CES: The Rise of the Network Agnostic Device…

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While attending the Consumer Electronics Show last week, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski observed in his speech to the assembled technology glitterati that “… virtually every new product on the CES floor is fueled by broadband Internet—by connectivity and bandwidth, wired and wireless.  If you shut off the Internet, virtually nothing on the CES floor would work.”  Certainly, the rapid innovation in edge devices is a wonderful thing.  But, such innovation may not be traveling alone.   That is, economic theory suggests this rapid increase in the number and sophistication of edge devices may be accompanied by an increase in the intensity Continue Reading »

Julius Genachowski’s Speech at CES Part 2…

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Most industry experts and pundits agree that the U.S. needs more spectrum in the hands of commercial mobile broadband providers.  To this end, Congress should be commended for their efforts to pass legislation to give the Federal Communications Commission the authority to hold voluntary incentive auctions to help facilitate the transfer of prime spectrum from broadcasters to mobile broadband providers.  As noted yesterday in Larry’s post, however, last week at CES FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski blasted a bill currently working its way through the House Energy and Commerce Committee because the proposed legislation would eliminate the FCC’s ability to preclude Continue Reading »