The future of your cell service depends on this auction that just had a little hiccup

The federal government wants to transfer as much as 100 megahertz of airwaves from the broadcast TV industry to carriers such as Verizon and T-Mobile in a historic auction that could pave the way for lots more mobile data capacity. That potentially means faster mobile Internet, more connected devices and new services and features.

The problem is, there may not be enough demand for all those airwaves. And that could reduce the new capacity that reaches consumers like you and me, as well as how much money the government can raise. Recently, the Federal Communications Commission said putting all that radio spectrum in the hands of wireless carriers would cost the companies, collectively, more than $86 billion. That's a staggering figure that indicates there may be a lot of spectrum to go around. The agency didn't pull this number from thin air; what it reflects is how many TV stations apparently anticipate making some money by going off the air or moving to a different channel. In plain English, this means the FCC may need to revise its target a few times before it's confident it can match supply with demand.