August 2011

Private Sector Investment and Employment Impacts of Reassigning Spectrum to Mobile Broadband in the United States

Mobile broadband is critical to the U.S. communications infrastructure and our future economy. Private sector investment, with substantial job creation benefits, can be facilitated by the reassignment of spectrum to mobile broadband. Building on previous studies, we estimate that the reassignment of 300 MHz of spectrum to mobile broadband within five years will spur $75 billion in new capital spending, creating more than 300,000 jobs and $230 billion in additional Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The release of an additional 200 MHz of new spectrum after five years will create an additional 200,000 jobs and increase GDP by an additional $155 billion. These estimates represent the tip of the iceberg in terms of economic benefits. Reassigning additional spectrum to mobile broadband also would generate substantial spillover effects as companies such as Apple, Google and Qualcomm, small application developers and other innovative start-up companies rush to create new mobile broadband products and services. Given published estimates of the spillover effects from communications and broadband investment, it seems likely that the spillover effects from the reassignment of spectrum to mobile broadband will exceed, by a considerable margin, the multiplier effects that we present here. A delay in the reassignment of spectrum will necessarily delay the consequent job and economic output benefits that we identify.

Don't sell public airwaves to the highest corporate bidder

[Commentary] House Republicans are pushing a proposal to sell off some of the nation's most valuable real estate as part of a debt-ceiling deal, apparently unaware of the harm it will do our economy.

The GOP-backed plan would gut the huge market potential of this high-octane spectrum by selling it to the highest bidders: incumbent carriers more interested in shutting-out competition than in igniting the next great high-tech boom. Once auctioned, the spectrum would be licensed, creating enormous barriers-to-entry and disincentives for innovators, entrepreneurs and investors. Oddly, House members pushing this auction plan - inappropriately called the "Spectrum Innovation Act" - acknowledge unlicensed spectrum's market advantage. But their mechanism for providing unlicensed spectrum is bizarre. The bill would allow companies - and presumably the public - to place bids for this spectrum either as licensed or unlicensed. This never-before-tried auction would then pit the highest bid for licensed spectrum against the sum of all bids for unlicensed use. If the latter exceeds the former, the U.S. Treasury would reap the proceeds and the nation's economy would reap the rewards of the next unlicensed Wi-Fi boom. But common sense should red-flag this auction scheme as unworkable.

Can We Avoid the Mobile Bandwidth Drought?

We've all experienced it on our smartphones: long waits for buffering videos, apps that hiccup when your Net connection cuts out, and webpages that take forever to load. According to experts, what we are experiencing are hints of an impending wireless broadband drought. As smartphones and tablets become ubiquitous and hungry apps greedily gobble bandwidth, the days of cheap and reliable wireless broadband become as rare as a white rhino.

For now, carriers are fighting the future by doing a little of everything. The process of acquiring spectrum and building out networks has been moving forward, but clearly not fast enough to avoid the move to data caps, which some carriers will admit are coming. All of them will tell you that only a very small percentage of users are affected by caps, and it appears that's true -- for now. The question is whether or not that will hold true when the day comes that streaming HD video to a 4G tablet is the most popular after-dinner pastime. If mobile video demand is underestimated, as was the case with mobile signaling, video buffering may replace dropped calls as the bane of wireless life.

AT&T Data Throttling Is Just a Political Stunt

AT&T has confirmed that it will start throttling download speeds for unlimited data accounts. The move impacts relatively few users, and may be more political than technical, but it also begs the question "who is going to keep any eye on AT&T to make sure they measure usage accurately and don't abuse the throttling?"

AT&T plans to throttle the data speed for the top five percent of data consumers--with a few significant caveats. The throttling only impacts users still grandfathered on the extinct unlimited mobile data plan, and it doesn't count or throttle data over Wi-Fi, just the data consumed over AT&T's wireless data network. Something doesn't seem to add up, though. Either AT&T is exaggerating the impact of this five percent and making a spectacle out of the policy change as a political move to justify the case for why it "needs" the T-Mobile acquisition approved, or AT&T is not being completely honest with regard to how many users will be affected or what the impact will be.

Startup America: The First 180 Days

Six months ago, we joined together at the White House in a room packed full of entrepreneurs, to celebrate the launch of Startup America.

We said we would drive up to $2 billion in private investment into high-growth companies over the next five years, at no cost to taxpayers. Just last week, the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) announced the first Impact Investment Fund in Michigan, providing up to $130 million in capital to job-creating businesses throughout the state.
We said we would use the tax code to incentivize more private investment in the early-stage companies that need it most. Now, the President’s budget includes a permanent, 100% exemption from capital gains taxes for investors in small businesses, and we have proposed new rules to simplify tax credits for investment in entrepreneurs revitalizing low-income communities.
We said we would connect more entrepreneurs with experienced mentors. Now, we have launched new mentorship and education opportunities for thousands of cleantech entrepreneurs, military veterans and undergraduate engineers.
We said we would travel the country to get first-hand input from entrepreneurs about how to reduce barriers. Now, we have completed an eight-city tour and we will soon release a report on the ideas we heard. We have already taken action to dramatically streamline requirements facing entrepreneurs in cleantech and telemedicine, as top Administration officials continue to hit the road to engage with young entrepreneurs, urban entrepreneurs and entrepreneurs in healthcare, cleantech and learning technology.

Call for Questions & Input: The President’s Council on Jobs Session in Palo Alto, CA

On August 2, the President’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness is holding the next in a series of Listening and Action Sessions to get input on how the public and private sectors can come together to foster opportunity and promote job creation for startups and high growth businesses. We want to hear from you.

I'll be joining Jobs Council Members Steve Case, John Doerr, Sheryl Sandberg, as well as Netflix CEO Reed Hastings on a panel moderated by the Editor-in-Chief of Wired Magazine Chris Anderson. The panel will focus on issues that impact entrepreneurs and high growth businesses, as well the importance of innovation, entrepreneurship and high growth companies to our economy. During the Session, Council members will respond to questions and comments from people across the country submitted via LinkedIn and Facebook. Add your voice to the dialogue by sending us your questions and comments.

Gauging Impact of a Scandal

How worried is The Wall Street Journal that it could be tainted by the scandal roiling Rupert Murdoch’s British newspapers? Worried enough that it is asking its readers point-blank: What impact, if any, do the illegal acts by News of the World journalists have on their impression of The Wall Street Journal? Subscribers to The Journal are being given that and other questions in a survey that tries to gauge whether News Corporation’s problems in Britain have become a serious issue in the United States.

News International Ordered Mass Deletion Of E-Mails Nine Times

Senior Members of Parliament want to question further one of News International’s technology suppliers, after the firm responsible for overseeing its day-to-day e-mails revealed that hundreds of thousands of them had been deleted on a total of nine occasions from the newspaper publisher’s server since May last year.

British to Expand Inquiry Into Murdoch Media

Scotland Yard will expand its investigation of The News of the World and its parent company, police officials said, adding a new inquiry into possible instances of computer intrusion to the current accusations of phone hacking and payments to police officers.

The new investigation was opened after an examination of “a number of allegations regarding breach of privacy” received since the Metropolitan Police, also known as Scotland Yard, reopened inquiries in January into possible crimes by newspaper employees, a statement said. A police spokesman declined to answer further questions. But a former British Army intelligence officer, Ian Hurst, said in a statement that he had been contacted by investigators over allegations that he had made “in regards to my family’s computer being illegally accessed over a sustained period during 2006.” Hurst had worked in Northern Ireland, running undercover operations. The BBC reported this year that his computer had been hacked and sensitive e-mail had been provided to The News of the World. A spokeswoman for News International refused to comment on the new inquiry.

Spectrum-Sharing Agreements With Canada And Mexico Enabling 4G Wireless Broadband and Public Safety Communications In The Border Areas

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has reached arrangements with Industry Canada and Mexico's Secretariat of Communications and Transportation (SCT) for sharing commercial wireless broadband spectrum in the 700 MHz band along the U.S.-Canadian and U.S.-Mexican border areas. The FCC also reached an arrangement with Industry Canada for sharing spectrum in the 800 MHz band. These actions will help support commercial broadband services and public safety mission-critical voice communications.

The technical sharing principles reached on the 700 MHz band will facilitate the deployment of mobile wireless broadband systems near the U.S.-Canadian and U.S.-Mexican borders and will provide consumers in these areas with advanced opportunities for 4G high-speed mobile broadband access. Under the arrangements, licensees on both sides of the borders will have greater access to the 698-758 MHz and 776-788 MHz bands.

The technical sharing principles reached on 800 MHz will pave the way for completion of 800 MHz rebanding by U.S. public safety and commercial licensees operating along the U.S.-Canadian border. The FCC ordered rebanding to alleviate interference to public safety licensees in the band caused by commercial cellular licensees.

The arrangement specifies (1) how primary channels will be allotted between the United States and Canada, (2) the technical parameters for operation on these channels within 140 kilometers (87 miles) of the common border, and (3) a schedule for transitioning facilities from the channels needed by the U.S. to complete rebanding along the U.S.-Canadian border.

Benton

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