The politics of adding new wireless data spectrum in the US and EU

[pm]

I thought this was an interesting, in-depth article on CNet about the increasing use of wireless data in the US and the spectrum that has been lined up to help resolve the "spectrum crisis".
http://news.cnet.com/8301-30686_3-57379526-266/how-politics-inflame-the-spectrum-crisis

A lot of the article talks about the politics of Congress and the FCC and how nothing is getting done... and while this is vaguely interesting, I thought the more interesting part was more than halfway through where they talk about the various frequency blocks and their status. I'm not very interested in the politics but more in the spectrum, where it is, and when it might be available.

I thought it was interesting that an auction of 120MHz contiguous block of spectrum from 572-692MHz - 120MHz total - (UHF stations 31-51) was including the payroll tax bill going through Congress now. There is a downside of the auction too (which CNet ignores) which is that a lot of stations will be forced off the air (including a bunch where I live).

Then on the same site, there was an article today about the EU adding 800MHz spectrum (which is from their digital TV conversion) to their LTE spectrum. It's interesting how - in the US - there's a "crisis" of too little spectrum, while in the EU, the spectrum is available, but carriers are slow to build out 800MHz LTE.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1001_3-57379117-92/4g-lte-in-europe-to-get-spectrum-boost-next-year/

 

[destrekor]

I thought this was an interesting, in-depth article on CNet about the increasing use of wireless data in the US and the spectrum that has been lined up to help resolve the "spectrum crisis".
http://news.cnet.com/8301-30686_3-57379526-266/how-politics-inflame-the-spectrum-crisis

A lot of the article talks about the politics of Congress and the FCC and how nothing is getting done... and while this is vaguely interesting, I thought the more interesting part was more than halfway through where they talk about the various frequency blocks and their status. I'm not very interested in the politics but more in the spectrum, where it is, and when it might be available.

I thought it was interesting that an auction of 120MHz contiguous block of spectrum from 572-692MHz - 120MHz total - (UHF stations 31-51) was including the payroll tax bill going through Congress now. There is a downside of the auction too (which CNet ignores) which is that a lot of stations will be forced off the air (including a bunch where I live).

Then on the same site, there was an article today about the EU adding 800MHz spectrum (which is from their digital TV conversion) to their LTE spectrum. It's interesting how - in the US - there's a "crisis" of too little spectrum, while in the EU, the spectrum is available, but carriers are slow to build out 800MHz LTE.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1001_3-57379117-92/4g-lte-in-europe-to-get-spectrum-boost-next-year/

Our LTE story was/is pretty similar. Yes, Verizon's LTE coverage is massive compared to LTE anywhere else (iirc - the state of foreign LTE I haven't paid THAT much attention to as of late), but they were a major player during the entire bidding process, and pretty much jumped into deployment of LTE hardware as soon as they could grab the spectrum and get some solid testing underway.

They are also one of the few carriers, globally, who could do it they way they did, at the speed and geographical coverage they have reached thus far.

One cannot completely compare the state of the U.S. communications industry... wired, wireless, it doesn't matter - it's far more costly to conduct a major overhaul, especially the backbones. It takes way more hardware to provide services to even fewer individuals over here, especially when considering cost/capita - they can reach more consumers and bring money in faster pretty much anywhere in the developed world, when compared to serving consumers in North America.

It sucks, but yep, nothing we can really do besides beg the industry more. Instead, we're going to, most often, end up playing catch-up with other developed regions, because American companies, realistically, cannot afford the upgrades when they first become available, not if they want to upgrade more than a few tiny regions in the U.S. (or Canada).

As for the politics, well... yep, the other thing that hampers our country is how the communications industry is simply a mess because of how it has been handled both politically and by the FCC in general.