Spectrum

The National Broadband Plan aims to speed up and expand broadband access, which are both big problems: 35 percent of adult Americans lack high-speed Internet access at home, and those who do connect at slower speeds than residents of other countries. But this set of blueprints doesn't represent much of a change from the existing market for high-speed Internet access.

A crucial side-battle in this week's release of the National Broadband Plan - and likely a long, drawn out one at that - is the tussle over whether existing spectrum currently allocated to TV broadcasters should be dedicated to broadband services.

Broadcast spectrum has long been a scarce and precious resource. In recent years, though, with the explosive growth in the number of users of cellular phones, smartphones and wireless broadband cards, it's come to resemble Manhattan real estate: in huge demand, with pressure to develop any parcel that seems underutilized. Those pressures are sure to increase under the National Broadband Plan unveiled last week by the FCC.

The Federal Communications Commission plans to begin a process in a few months aimed at auctioning airwaves that failed to garner enough interest during the 2008 spectrum auction.

As Mexico prepares for a wireless spectrum land rush, Grupo Televisa SAB agreed in mid-February to pay $1.44 billion for a 30% stake in the local subsidiary of mobile group NII Holdings Inc.

Clearwire frequently brags about how much spectrum it has at its disposal, and how easy it will be to deliver a ton of video and other high-bandwidth services over mobile networks. It's a luxurious position to be in and something that has only become top of mind for consumers recently as they experience dropped calls or sluggish 3G Internet speeds. But it appears that AT&T and Verizon have been formulating their response to this.